The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Wednesday forecasted that the growth of the South Korean economy would stay in the 2 percent range this year in the wake of the inflationary pressure and the prolonged war between Ukraine and Russia. Further, the France-based organization predicted that South Korea’s inflation would reach an upper 4 percent range this year. In its latest world economic outlook report, the OECD revised down its prediction on the gross domestic

Economy June 8, 2022

SEJONG -- The nation’s high inflation, which has led to a spike in consumer prices since the latter half of 2021, is weakening the purchasing power of households in the low-income bracket, as they spend a large portion of their monthly disposable income on daily necessities, state data showed Tuesday. According to the Finance Ministry and Statistics Korea, households which belong to the bottom 20 percent in terms of income level spent an average 42.2 percent of their monthly disposable in

Economy June 7, 2022

SEJONG -- Korea’s inflation surpassed 5 percent on-year last month in the wake of an ongoing glitch in global supply and rapid growth in domestic demand amid normalization from the pandemic, state data showed Friday. According to Statistics Korea, consumer prices climbed 5.4 percent in May compared to a year earlier. This posted the highest figure in more than 13 years, dating to August 2008, when 5.6 percent growth in prices was reported. This also marked the first time that on-year inf

Economy June 3, 2022

SEJONG -- South Korea’s fiscal chief on Thursday called on businesses to refrain from raising product prices and wages amid lingering fears of rising inflation. The comments from Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho came during his meeting with heads of the nation’s six business lobby groups in Seoul. “Given that hikes in price tags and wages could bring about a vicious circle in inflationary pressure, (the government would like to ask you) to internally

Economy June 2, 2022

 SEJONG -- South Korea posted a trade deficit for the second consecutive month in the wake of spiraling import prices of raw materials, despite its brisk outbound shipments. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the nation’s exports increased by 21.5 percent on-year to record $61.5 billion in May. This marked the second-highest in history, behind the $63.8 billion posted in March this year. This was an all-time high performance since the nation started compiling t

Economy June 1, 2022

SEJONG -- South Korea suffered a “triple” decline in industrial output, consumption and investment in April amid expanded economic uncertainty from global inflationary pressure and a glitch in supply, state data showed Tuesday. According to Statistics Korea, industrial output decreased by 0.7 percent in April on-month, private consumption (also called retail sales) by 0.2 percent and facilities investment by 7.5 percent. This marked the first simultaneous decline in the three secto

Economy May 31, 2022

SEJONG -- The government on Monday unveiled a package to the improve living conditions of households suffering from a spike in consumer prices, by slashing their expenditure burden for commodities and housing. A batch of countermeasures -- which are likely to cost about 3.1 trillion won ($2.5 billion) in state funds -- against the high inflation rate were confirmed during a meeting of economy-related ministers, presided by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho in Seoul. A co

Economy May 30, 2022

SEJONG -- The nation’s fiscal chief has expressed his willingness to enact drastic deregulations and introduce innovations into the financial services sector during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said Friday that the government “would eliminate unnecessary and excessive regulations in the financial sector drastically, with the exception of (regulations) for financial soundness and protection of (financial) consumers.”

Economy May 27, 2022

SEJONG -- The government has mapped out a measure to address the mounting deficit of the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp., which posted an all-time high operating loss of 7.7 trillion won ($6.1 billion) in the first quarter of the year. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday that it would place a cap on the “system marginal price,” the price KEPCO pays when purchasing power from private power generation companies. The cap would be placed temporarily whenev

Industry May 24, 2022

SEJONG -- The Yoon Suk-yeol administration is considering easing the comprehensive real estate tax rate for home owners holding a single unit to a considerable extent, starting this year. According to officials at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the government is moving to scale back their tax burden to the level in 2020. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho was quoted by local media on May 12 saying that, “(taxpayers) have shouldered a three or four-fold burden

Economy May 23, 2022

SEJONG -- The Yoon Suk-yeol administration is expected to slash the maximum rate in corporate tax, which has been set at 25 percent since the previous Moon Jae-in government, remarks from officials including new Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho suggested. While some claim cutting down corporate tax is inevitable, as such deregulatory moves could improve the business environment, opponents say it would undermine the country’s fiscal soundness. In his recent reply to the National Assembly fo

Economy May 18, 2022

SEJONG -- A program aimed at introducing Korean food to foreigners kicked off Monday, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Tuesday. The program, which consists of a total of 20 food tours, will run between May and November this year in Seoul and across the country. Foreign residents and tourists can also learn recipes for a variety of Korean food, including traditional sauces and kimchi, in one-day cooking classes by Korean food chefs and masters nationwide, the ministry sa

Industry May 17, 2022

SEJONG -- The Yoon Suk-yeol administration is considering easing the burden of gift tax by raising the upper limit of tax-free capital transfers from the current 50 million won ($38,900), documents from relevant ministries showed Monday. Currently, the authority does not levy gift taxes as long as parents or grandparents conduct capital transfer to their children or grandchildren within the limit of 50 million won per child. If the transfer exceeds 50 million won, the parents and grandparents

Economy May 16, 2022

SEJONG -- The Cabinet endorsed the supplementary budget worth 59.4 trillion won ($46 billion) in its first meeting under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration in Seoul on Thursday. The budget, drawn up by a group of ministries, is mostly aimed at supporting the self-employed and microbusiness owners. But the real scale of the extra budget in terms of utilization for payouts for the people and other segments of the economy would stay at 36.4 trillion won, given that 23 trillion won would be granted t

Economy May 12, 2022

SEJONG -- The Yoon Suk-yeol administration is moving to offer 6 million won ($4,700) or more per self-employed person in its supplementary budget, as part of the new government’s first policy to compensate those who suffered financial loss from state-led business restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. President Yoon, who took office on Tuesday, stressed the necessity of implementing a supplementary budget for the support package as promptly as possible while presiding over his first mee

Economy May 11, 2022