SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Self-employed people’s debts increased 5.8 percent in 2021 from a year earlier amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Friday. Loans extended by financial institutions to the self-employed averaged 178 million won (US$138,000) as of end-2021, up 9.75 million won from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of South Korean firms unable to service their debts with earnings soared nearly 24 percent in 2021 from two years earlier amid the prolonged coronavirus outbreak, a report showed Tuesday. Asia’s fourth-largest economy had 2,823 “marginal companies” last year, up 23.7 percent from 2019 before the COVID-19 [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly half of South Korean hospitality companies were unable to service their debts with earnings in 2020 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a report showed Monday. The report from the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the lobby for South Korea’s family-controlled conglomerates, showed 45.4 percent of firms [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — Large South Korean companies’ ability to service their debts improved sharply in the first half of the year amid the coronavirus pandemic, a corporate tracker said Wednesday. The interest coverage ratio for 259 out of the country’s top 500 firms averaged 10.3 as of end-June, compared with 4.3 a [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Seoul citizens’ debt load has increased by 90 trillion won (US$79.9 billion) over a seven-year period starting in 2010, a municipal think tank said Friday, calling attention to the liabilities of marginal households. The Seoul Institute, affiliated with the Seoul Metropolitan Government, said in a report that six out [...]
SEOUL, May 9 (Korea Bizwire) – Debts owed by South Korea’s three major shipbuilders more than doubled over a period of five years ending in 2015 due to disadvantageous contract terms, according to their business reports Sunday. The combined borrowings by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Samsung Heavy Industries Co., and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering [...]