SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly 4 in 10 South Korean construction firms were unable to service their debts with earnings in 2022 due mainly to falling profitability, a poll showed Tuesday. A total of 929 local builders had an interest coverage ratio of below 1 last year, accounting for 41.6 percent of all [...]
SEOUL, July 3 (Korea Bizwire) — Some 3 million people are struggling to maintain a minimum standard of living due to their debt and the repayment of loans with interest, a central bank report said Sunday. According to a report from the Bank of Korea, which was submitted to Rep. Yang Kyung-sook of the Democratic [...]
New York, June 22 (Korea Bizwire) — New research supported by the Open Society Foundations shows that increasing delays in resolving sovereign debt crises in some of the world’s poorest countries are significantly adding to the human cost of defaults—cutting economic growth, reducing life-expectancy, and worsening child mortality rates. The analysis, The Human Costs of the [...]
SEOUL, April 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Debt among those in their 20s and 30s jumped more than 27 percent over the past three years since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, indicating they suffered financial difficulties due to rising home prices and an economic slowdown, central bank data showed Sunday. In the fourth quarter of 2022, overall [...]
SEOUL, March 28 (Korea Bizwire) — Debt held by South Korean wage workers in their 20s jumped 15 percent on-year in 2021, much higher than 7 percent growth on average for all wage workers, data showed Tuesday. Bank and nonbank loans extended to paid workers in the country averaged 52.02 million won (US$40,107) per person [...]
SEOUL, March 1 (Korea Bizwire) — A significant number of young Koreans have debts that are more than three times what they earn every year, largely due to rising housing prices and investment fever, a report showed Tuesday. According to data analyzed by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, households represented by young [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly 60 percent of South Koreans aged between 40 and 64 held debt in 2021 as more people took out loans to purchase houses amid soaring property costs, data showed Tuesday. The proportion of middle-aged South Koreans who borrowed money from banks or other financial institutes came to 57.3 [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Korea Bizwire) – Small owner-operated businesses are facing a crisis after relying on loans to survive the pandemic. South Korean credit service provider NICE Information Service reported that loans for sole proprietorships exceeded 688 trillion won (US$480 billion) as of late June this year, which was 8 percent more than late last [...]
SEOUL, May 10 (Korea Bizwire) — More than 15 percent of households in South Korea are unable to balance their budget, a local think tank said. According to the last year’s study on household finance and welfare conducted by the Korea Institute of Finance, 17.2 percent (3.54 million) of the 20.52 million households in the [...]
SEOUL, May 5 (Korea Bizwire) — Eight out of 10 young people in their twenties who applied for personal rehabilitation took out loans from secondary financial institutions including credit cooperatives and savings banks, a survey showed Wednesday. The Seoul Financial Welfare Counseling Center conducted a survey of 512 young people in their twenties who completed [...]