SEOUL, Jan. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — The Bank of Korea (BOK) again cut its growth forecast for the 2019 economy to 2.6 percent Thursday, following a 0.1 percentage point slash in October, in a clear sign of gloomy growth prospects going forward. The number is 0.3 percentage point lower than the central bank’s original forecast [...]
SEJONG, Aug. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s industrial output rose at the fastest pace in six months in July on gains in cars and electronic devices, government data showed Thursday. Production in the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries climbed 1.9 percent on-month in July, turning around from a 0.5 percent on-month drop in [...]
SEJONG, June 8 (Korea Bizwire) – The South Korean economy has been on a modest recovery path thanks to brisk exports and investment despite a slight downturn in industrial output, a state-run think tank said Thursday. “The Korean economy maintained a moderate improvement led by exports and investment demand, although industrial output growth moderated slightly,” [...]
SEOUL, June 26 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea has come under growing pressure to take more aggressive budgetary and monetary measures after Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, officials and experts here said Sunday. The unexpected move has added to global market uncertainties and is fueling financial sector turbulence that is adversely impacting Asia’s [...]
SEOUL, June 2 (Korea Bizwire) – The latest overseas investment bank (IB) analysis noted that Korea’s surging debt – household and corporate – is degrading its potential for economic growth. And with its aging society and poor foreign conditions, the gap between Korean and global economic growth rates will likely expand. One of the IBs, [...]
SEOUL, April 24 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean households’ debts owed to the nonbanking sector spiked over the past two months, suggesting that those with low credit ratings opted to borrow money despite relatively higher interest, central bank data showed Sunday. According to the data by the Bank of Korea, the outstanding household debts owed [...]
SEOUL, April 18 (Korea Bizwire) – Household loans extended by local banks rose at a fast clip in March due to a large increase in mortgage loans, central bank data showed Monday. Outstanding household loans extended by lenders here came to 649 trillion won (US$564.2 billion) as of end-March, up 4.9 trillion won from the [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 1 (Korea Bizwire) –South Korea’s exports contracted at the steepest rate in six years in October as outbound shipments backtracked for the 10th straight month this year, the government said Sunday. Outbound shipments came to US$43.47 billion last month, down 15.8 percent from the same month last year, the sharpest drop since a [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Korea Bizwire) – A growing number of South Korean companies failed to generate enough operating profit to pay tax and interest payments on their debt, potentially raising downside risks in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, data showed Sunday. Out of 628 listed companies excluding financial firms, 34.9 percent of the companies failed to make [...]
SEJONG, July 9 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea will invest nearly 10 trillion won (US$88 billion) over the next three years to help boost its exports, the government said Thursday. The move comes as the country posted an on-year drop in its exports for six consecutive months since January. In the first six months of [...]