SEJONG -- South Korea is projected to see the portion of foreign population increase by 1.2 percentage points to 4.3 percent by 2040, state demographic data showed Thursday. The data also forecast that the portion of Korean seniors, aged 65 or over, will far outstrip that of elderly foreigners residing in the nation in 2040, suggesting that local people are aging faster than foreign residents. ...

South Korea’s economic growth to fall short of 3 percent target this year

South Korea's tax revenue rose 1.4 trillion won ($1.1 billion) in February compared to a year earlier as the collection of income and corporate taxes increased amid the economic recovery, the finance ministry said Thursday. The government collected 20.3 trillion won in taxes in February, compared with 19 trillion won the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The tally...

South Korea's import prices increased for the third straight month in March as prices of crude oil and other commodities rose, central bank data showed Thursday. The import price index rose 7.8 percent in March from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. The rise followed 4.4 percent and 4.6 percent rises in January and February, respectively. The rise came a...

SEJONG -- Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki apologized for failing to curb apartment prices, but said the government’s real estate measures have been consistent. “The government has pushed for real estate policies in a consistent manner under the three principles of increasing supply, protecting real demand and restraining speculative investment,” he said during a ministeria...

South Korea reported job additions for the 13th consecutive month in March, but job growth slowed from the previous month as employment in in-person services was hit by the upsurge in COVID-19 cases, data showed Wednesday. The number of employed people came to 27.75 million last month, up 831,000 from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The number of employed peo...

The transition committee working for President Yoon Suk-yeol said Tuesday that the incoming government will embrace nuclear power in its decarbonization efforts, signaling a major shift in energy policy the outgoing Moon Jae-in government had said has no place for nuclear power. Won Hee-ryong, chief policymaker setting out Yoon’s agenda, said Korea had seen more emissions and would see soaring e...

‘Ukraine war, global supply shortage and US rate hike could restrict 2022 GDP growth’

An economic surveillance organization in Asia on Tuesday maintained its 2022 growth outlook for the South Korean economy at 3 percent, citing improving private spending despite heightened external economic risks. The projection by the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) remains unchanged from its January estimate and is in line with the 3 percent growth estimates by the Bank of Korea an...

Market watchers are sharply divided over whether the Bank of Korea (BOK) will raise its key policy rate this week amid persistent worries over inflation that has been under growing upward pressure from surging oil and commodity prices, a poll showed Tuesday. The BOK is set to hold a rate-setting meeting Thursday. In February, the central bank froze its policy interest rate at 1.25 percent after ...

South Korea’s exports, which account for half of the nation’s economy, will likely weaken once the US Federal Reserve starts carrying out additional and steeper rate hikes, a think tank report showed Monday. The report came after minutes from the March Federal Open Market Committee meeting released last week indicated officials initially preferred a 50-basis-point rate hike, but instead settled ...

Bond issuance in South Korea rose solidly in March from the previous month thanks largely to increased state debt sale, industry data showed Monday. The value of bonds sold in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to 71.3 trillion won ($58.1 billion) last month, up 4.7 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association. Sales of government bond...

South Korea's exports rose 3 percent in the first 10 days of April from a year earlier on the back of demand for chips and petroleum products, customs data showed Monday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $15.3 billion in the April 1-10 period, compared with $14.9 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports gained 12.8 percent on-year to $18.9 b...

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s finance minister nominee said Sunday that he will seek parliamentary approval of an extra budget to support the self-employed and small businesses hit hardest by COVID-19, despite runaway inflation eating into many household budgets. Rep. Choo Kyung-ho, currently a two-term lawmaker of Yoon’s People Power Party, said inflation cannot be the reason to avoid increas...

South Korea's top economic policymaker said Friday the government is "positively" considering joining a new US-proposed economic framework in the Indo-Pacific region. The United States is seeking to launch the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) to seek deeper cooperation with partner nations on a wide range of economic and trade issues, including digital trade and supply chains. The move is ...