The Philippine Board of Investments, the lead industry and investment promotion agency in the country, said it is eyeing South Korean electric vehicle parts and semiconductor firms to further grow their businesses and make it happen in the Philippines. Trade Undersecretary and BOI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo made this statement during an online briefing with South Korean companies in April on the recently-enacted Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act and the Strategic In

A handful of large companies in South Korea continued to dominate the country’s exports and imports, according to data released by the Korea Customs Service and Statistics Korea.As per the export data, 805 large companies -- just 0.8 percent of total exporting firms -- accounted for 66.6 percent in 2018, an on-year increase of 0.3 percentage point.The value of imports by 1,092 large businesses increased by 0.2 percentage point to reach $323 billion, having a 61 percent share of all imports

Top trade officials from South Korea, China and Japan agreed Sunday to accelerate their trilateral free trade talks and ramp up efforts to conclude a mega Asia-Pacific trade deal, Seoul's trade ministry said.South Korea's Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Sung Yun-mo met China's Commerce Minister Zhong Shan and Japan's Economy and Trade Minister Hiroshi Kajiyama for talks in Beijing on how to accelerate regional free trade negotiations, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.T

South Korea’s exports of agricultural products to China showed signs of rebounding last month, following the announcement that South Korea and China had decided to begin normalizing bilateral relations in October.　　According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade on Thursday, exports of agricultural and livestock products to China -- excluding marine products -- reached roughly $165 million in November. The figure marks a 4.1 percent increase compared to the same month last year.　In addition t

More than 40 percent of China's service sector has remained closed despite a bilateral free trade agreement with South Korea, a report said Thursday, suggesting the Seoul government should do more to open the neighboring market in upcoming trade talks with Beijing.The Korea-China FTA took effect in December 2015 after years of negotiations, with tariffs on about 90 percent of goods to be eventually removed over the next two decades. South Korean Trade Minister Yoon Sang-jick (R) and his Chinese

South Korea will step up economic cooperation with Russia and northern states in various areas, including energy, shipbuilding, fishery and transportation, to foster future growth drivers and stabilize regional security, a presidential committee said Thursday. The Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation unveiled its plan in its inaugural meeting hosted by chairman Song Young-gil, attended by ministers of finance, foreign affairs, unification, trade and other related organizations

WASHINGTON -- South Korea pushed Wednesday to stop the United States from restricting imports of its solar cells, saying such a move would only harm US interests.A government delegation, including officials from the foreign and commerce industries, made the case at a public hearing at the office of the US trade representative, the foreign ministry said in a statement."An increase in solar cell prices caused by import restriction measures would bring enormous costs to the US public interest," it

South Korean economists and ordinary citizens alike want the next administration to make economic growth and income distribution its top priorities, a survey said Sunday.The same survey found that many of the respondents view the country's political and parliamentary capacities as below par. (Yonhap)The Korea international Trade Association polled 1,000 people, including 321 economic experts, from March 21-27 on what they wanted the next government to focus on for short- and midterm policies. Re

South Korea, China and Japan will hold a new round of talks on a three-way free trade agreement in Tokyo next week, South Korea's trade ministry said Sunday.South Korea's top negotiator Lee Sang-jin is set to meet with his Chinese and Japanese counterparts from Monday through Thursday, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.(Yonhap)The 12th round of talks come amid growing US protectionism and Chinese economic retaliations against South Korea over the ongoing deployment of an ad

The ratio of South Korea's household debt to the country's gross domestic product is much higher than the average for the group of 35 mostly rich nations, central bank data showed Thursday.The proportion of South Korea's household debt to the GDP stood at 91 percent at the end of 2015, compared with the average of 70.4 percent for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Bank of Korea said in a report to the parliament.(Yonhap)South Korea's household debt has been on the ri

South Korea's economy is showing clear signs of picking up pace helped by surging exports, improved consumer sentiment and a rise in stock prices, although some lingering uncertainties could limit a full-fledged recovery, at least for the time being, observers said Thursday.It will take several months for rising exports to lift domestic consumption, a major obstacle to the full-scale economic recovery of Asia's fourth-largest economy, experts said as they predicted some lag time before results s

The South Korean economy has been seeing a modest recovery in recent months on the back of improvement in investment and exports, a state-run think tank said Thursday."The Korean economy continued to grow at a moderate pace on improving investment and exports," the Korea Development Institute (KDI) said in its monthly evaluation of the country's economic conditions. "Both construction and facilities investment continued to grow fast, while exports trended up on the recovery of the global economy

Limiting tax exemptions on earned income would be effective in increasing the country's revenue, but when it comes to raising tax rates, applying the hike on businesses would have better results than applying it on people's earnings, a report said Thursday.Authored by professors Park Ki-baeg and Jun Byung-wook of the University of Seoul, the report measured the effects of different options in taxation revisions aimed at narrowing income inequality.(Yonhap)The report was requested by the National

The South Korean government spent nearly 90 trillion won ($79.8 billion) of its state budget in the first three months of the year as part of its efforts to frontload spending to prop up the economy, the finance ministry said Thursday.Budget spending by the government and public institutions for the January-March period stood at 89.3 trillion won, up 1.8 trillion won from the earlier target of 87.4 trillion won, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. (Yonhap)It accounted for 31.7 per

Calls are rising for business and political circles in Korea to forge a new constructive relationship replacing old collusive ties and work together to draw up a blueprint for the future of the national economy that has seen its growth potential continuously weakening.Political parties have competitively put forward measures aimed at tightening restraints on big businesses, many of which have been embroiled in the massive corruption scandal that led to the impeachment and arrest of President Par

South Korea’s central bank chief said sluggish private consumption should be boosted by job growth in the service sector, cautioning against optimism from rebounding exports.“To revive consumption, people’s income should be increased through job creation. And such job creation should be led by the service industry rather than the manufacturing sector,” Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said at a meeting with economists, professors and financial industry executives. Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol sp

South Korea's economic growth for the first quarter of this year is expected to be faster than the fourth quarter of last year, fueled by robust exports, according to estimates by foreign investment banks Wednesday. Although the nation's industrial output fell in February, foreign banks, including Barclays, HSBC and Citibank, expected production to bounce back, helped by strong exports on improved global demand.  (Yonhap)The estimates, compiled by the Korea Center for International Finance, came

South Korea's current account surplus rose in February from a year earlier due to an increased surplus in the goods account, central bank data showed Wednesday.The country's current account surplus reached $8.4 billion in February, compared with a surplus of $7.62 billion a year earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.(Yonhap)The figure represents a surplus for 60 months in a row. The current account is the biggest measure of cross-border trade.The BOK said the goods ac

South Korea's foreign exchange reserves rose slightly in March from a month earlier due to a hike in the value of non-dollar currencies when converted into the US greenback, central bank data showed Wednesday.As of the end of March, the country's foreign exchange reserves came to $375.3 billion, up 1.39 billion from the previous month, the Bank of Korea said in a statement.(Yonhap)Foreign exchange reserves consist of securities and deposits denominated in overseas currencies, as well as Internat

South Korea’s consumer prices increased 2.2 percent last month, the fastest hike in nearly five years in March on a sharp rise in gas prices, Statistics Korea said Tuesday.Core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food prices, increased 1.7 percent compared with last year.