SEOUL, April 17 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s plan to lift almost all COVID-19 social distancing rules is expected to help spur private spending, but its recovery may not be robust as growing inflationary pressure could undercut domestic demand, experts said Sunday. Starting Monday, the country will remove all virus restrictions, except the mask mandate, [...]
SEOUL, March 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Spending on private after-school classes hit a record high of 23.4 trillion won (US$18.9 billion) last year amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic that restricted in-person school education, according to a survey released by the education ministry Friday. The 2021 expenditures, based on a survey of some 74,000 elementary to [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Retails sales in 15 provinces and major cities in South Korea increased in the third quarter as people increased outdoor activity amid the vaccine rollout and the economic recovery, data showed Thursday. Retail sales, a gauge of private spending, rose in nine provinces and six cities in the third [...]
SEOUL, April 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Private spending in South Korea fell to a record low last year amid gloomy employment prospects and rapid population aging. The ratio of private spending to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached 48.1 percent in 2017, down 0.6 percentage points from a year ago, the lowest since records began [...]