South Korea's inflation expectations declined for a second straight month in September amid falling oil prices, a central bank survey showed Monday. Ordinary people expected consumer prices will grow 4.2 percent over the next year, down 0.1 percentage point from 4.3 percent of the previous month, according to the poll conducted by the Bank of Korea (BOK). The inflation expectations index has shown a gradual decline since July, when the monthly figure peaked at an all-time high of 4.7 percen

SEJONG -- The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development forecast Monday that South Korea will rank 12th among members of the Group of 20 for 2022 gross domestic product growth, hinting that the nation will see weakened momentum for economic growth. In its Interim Economic Outlook, the France-based OECD predicted that Korea will post a 2.8 percent growth this year. This is lower than the organization’s forecast for other G-20 members, including 4.1 percent growth in Australia,

South Korea's consumer inflation is likely to stay in the 5-6 percent range for a considerable period of time amid high energy and food prices and the local currency's sharp weakness against the US dollar, the chief of the country's central bank said Monday. Asia's fourth-largest economy is expected to see slowing growth momentum into next year due to China's slowdown and heightened external conditions, Bank of Korea Gov. Rhee Chang-yong told a parliamentary committee me

A South Korean vice finance minister on Friday asked the food industry to minimize raising food prices as the country is grappling with high inflation. The government also plans to expand the supply of agricultural products, including napa cabbage and white radish, in a bid to better deal with high demand for kimchi-making events ahead of the winter season, according to First Vice Finance Minister Bang Ki-sun. "In light of the stabilizing trends of grain prices, we are asking (the food sect

Central bank likely to accelerate rate hike upon steeper-than-expected US rate hike

The South Korean currency on Thursday sank below the 1,400 mark against the US dollar for the first time in more than 13 years during its intraday trading following the Federal Reserve's rate hike. The Korean currency was trading at 1,403.80 won against the dollar as of 9:07 a.m., down 9.60 won from the previous session. The won fell to as low as 1,404.70 at one point. The won had fallen through the 1,400 mark for the first time since March 31, 2009, when the local currency hit 1,422 won per the

Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said Wednesday that a currency swap agreement with the United Sates would "definitely" help stabilize the foreign exchange market but declined to comment on the possibility of such a deal.   He made the remarks after a local media outlet reported that a US$60 billion currency swap agreement with the US is expected to be announced as early as this week. The Bank of Korea denied the report as "different from the facts."   "A currenc

SEJONG -- South Korea is likely to record a trade deficit for the sixth consecutive month, as the nation suffered a trade deficit of $4.1 billion for the first 20 days of September, down 8.7 percent on-year, state data showed Wednesday. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the nation posted $32.9 billion in exports while imports increased 6.1 percent on-year to $37 billion over the corresponding period. It would be the first time in 25 years for Asia's fourth-largest econom

The Asian Development Bank lowered South Korea’s growth outlook for next year by 0.3 percentage point to 2.3 percent in its updated outlook published Wednesday, while keeping its forecast for this year at 2.6 percent. It also maintained Korea’s inflation outlook at 4.5 percent for this year, and 3 percent for 2023. “(Korea’s) private consumption is expected to slow in the second half of the 2022 as stimulus from the economy’s reopening fades and interest rate increa

The number of offline offices run by financial firms in South Korea declined more than 1,000 over the past year as the use of mobile services spiked amid their fast transition to digitalization, data showed Tuesday. Local financial companies, including banks and insurers, had run a total of 15,924 offline offices in South Korea as of end-March, down 1,037 from the same month a year earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. Of them, the number of insurers' offlin

SEJONG -- The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Monday predicted that the gross domestic product growth of South Korea would stay in the low 2 percent range next year. In particular, the Paris-based OECD forecast that the nation’s exports and private consumption would post slower-than-expected growth in 2023. In the 2022 OECD Economic Survey of Korea, the organization revised its outlook on the 2023 GDP growth of Korea to 2.2 percent, from its suggestion of 2.5 per

South Korea's currency fell to a new yearly low in intraday trading Friday amid worries the US Federal Reserve will continue monetary tightening to tame inflation and its negative impact on the global economy. The local currency was trading at 1,396.1 won per dollar as of 9:50 a.m., down 2.4 won from the previous session's close. The won fell to as low as 1,399.0 won at one point, flirting with the 1,400 level that has not been breached since March 31, 2009, when it dived to 1,422.0 wo

South Korea's unemployment rate hit an all-time low last month, but the pace of job growth slowed down for the third month in a row amid economic uncertainties, data showed Friday. The number of employed people stood at 28.41 million in August, up 807,000 from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It is the highest on-year rise for any August since 2000, when the country added 848,000 jobs from the previous year. The country's job market has improved markedly after

South Korea's import prices declined for the second straight month in August as global oil prices fell amid concerns about global economic slowdown, central bank data showed Friday. The import price index fell 0.9 percent in August from a month earlier after it declined 2.6 percent on-month in July, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The BOK attributed the decline to falling oil prices which drove down prices of petroleum and mine products. South Korea depends o

South Korea's national debt has risen further despite an increase in tax revenue, due largely to the growing spending on supporting pandemic-hit small merchants and other vulnerable groups, data showed Thursday. The total debt had stood at 1,022 trillion won ($732.88 billion) as of end-July, up 14.5 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the data by the Finance Ministry. As of end-2021, the national debt had come to 939.1 trillion won but had been on a steady rise to surpass the 1,