South Korea’s producer prices declined in October for the fourth straight month, central bank data showed Wednesday, reflecting sluggish growth and changes in pork prices.The overall producer price index stood at 103.61 last month, down 0.2 percent from a month earlier and down 0.6 percent from a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.This marked the fourth consecutive month of an on-year drop and the first on-month fall in three months.The key reason for the de

South Korea’s economy and its key businesses will continue to face challenges next year due to the weak global economic growth pace and persisting trade tensions, global credit ratings agency Moody’s said Tuesday.“Our outlook (for Korea in 2020) is negative,” Chris Park, associate managing director of corporate finance at the agency, said in a press briefing.“Many export-dependent companies here had their profitability decrease in 2019 but continued to maintain or e

South Korea’s actual key interest rate, in relative term to its inflation, is one of the highest among peer economies, data showed Monday, raising speculations that the country may carry out additional rate cuts.According to data compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and cited by experts here, Asia’s fourth-largest economy had the third highest “actual” base rate in October, next to Turkey and Mexico.The official policy rate here currently

Since the early history of the Korean Peninsula, the Han River has served as a strategic waterway and was the center of a power struggle among the Three Kingdoms of Baekje, Silla and Goguryeo.It was also near its banks that Joseon-era kings visited to observe the training of the nation’s Navy.Seoul Battleship Park, located on the river’s northern bank in Mapo-gu, is the first shipbuilding theme park in Seoul, providing an ideal destination for family outings.The 9,952-square-meter ar

Viva Republica, operator of mobile financial service Toss, said Thursday that it has converted all of its redeemable convertible preferred shares to convertible preferred shares, in a move to enhance capital stability.Redeemable shares, or RCPS, refer to preferred stocks that the issuing company may trade for cash, while convertible shares, or CPS, allow the shareholder to exchange for common stocks. The latter is recognized as capital under both Korean Generally Accepted Accounting Standards (K

South Korea’s key job indexes showed visible progress in October, with the employment rate hitting a 23-year high for any October and the jobless rate at its lowest in six years, government data showed Wednesday.But despite the general uptrend, the nation’s backbone manufacturing industry continued to shed jobs. The figures for those in their 30s and 40s also continued to disappoint, stirring up concerns that the apparent improvement is mostly driven by government spending in the pub

The competition to join the C-suite is higher at major banks than at top-tier conglomerates such as Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor, data showed Tuesday.When it comes to the four major sectors of the financial market -- banks, insurers, brokerages and credit card companies -- executives accounted for 2,969 of the 23,595 employees as of the end of June, or 1.3 percent, according to the Financial Information Statistics System of the market watchdog Financial Supervisory Service.The correspon

Weighed down by the prolonged slow growth and the government’s consequent fiscal expansion, South Korea’s fiscal deficit reached a record-high level, data by the Ministry of Economy and Finance showed Friday.According to the monthly fiscal trend report, the accumulated fiscal balance as of the end of September stood at 26.5 trillion won ($22.9 billion) in deficit.The corresponding figure had plunged into the red in 2005, 2006, 2009 and from 2013 to 2015, but the latest deficit volume

South Korea will reduce its troops by nearly 80,000 by 2022 and expand the use of technologies, responding to an ageing society, according to the country’s fiscal chief on Wednesday.“We will reorganize the structure of our military forces, focusing on cutting-edge technologies,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki in a ministerial meeting on economic revitalization, held at Export-Import Bank of Korea headquarters in Yeouido. The restructuring plan aims

Kwon Yong-won, chairman of the self-regulatory organization Korea Financial Investment Association, was found dead Wednesday, according to local news reports.The Bangbae Police Station said the unnatural death of the financial officer was reported during the day, adding that the detailed cause of death has yet to be identified.The financial officer’s reported death came in the wake of a recent allegations of his verbal abuse against staff -- behavior dubbed “gapjil” in Korean.L

The Korea Herald is looking for domestic financial firms that are seeking to play a leading role in global markets.As South Korea’s No. 1 English daily newspaper, The Korea Herald has established the Global Finance Awards to give wider publicity to financial firms who have shown outstanding performance and further promote their global competitiveness. For a fair and thorough evaluation, a judging committee consisting of renowned industry experts will screen candidate companies and the

South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves reached a new high last month, mostly due to the impact of the weakening US dollar, central bank showed Tuesday.As of end-October, the country’s forex reserves stood at $406.32 billion, up $3 billion from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea.“The increase is largely due to the profits from forex assets and dollar-equivalent forex reserves held in other currencies as the US dollar has weakened,” the BOK said. Last month, t

A business-friendly think tank here suggested Monday that tax reduction is more effective for economic growth than fiscal spending, raising objections to the government’s expansionary policies.According to a recent report from the Korea Economic Research Institute, South Korea’s gross domestic product would on average climb 102 won ($0.09) for every 100 won in tax reduction.The institute, affiliated with the nation’s largest business lobby, Federation of the Korean Industries,

South Korea logged one of the sharpest falls in its potential growth rate over the past two years among advanced economies, data showed Sunday.The country’s potential economic output was estimated at 2.7 percent for this year, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.Potential output refers to the maximum growth that a given economy may achieve over the medium to long term without stroking inflation.The latest figure, though slightly higher than the 2.5-2.6 pe

South Korea’s central bank chief on Friday called for domestic banks to enhance productivity amid the country’s slowing growth. “The International Monetary Fund has recently stressed the need to increase growth potential while revising down the growth outlook for the global economy,” Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said at a policy meeting with the heads of 10 major banks here.“In the end, productivity improvement through innovation is key to achieving this goal.&rdq

Despite the slowing economy and pessimistic growth outlook, Seoul’s commercial real estate market is expected to maintain its momentum throughout 2019-2020, according to key global real-estate service providers here.Both CBRE Korea and JLL Korea said in their recent quarterly real estate reports that the vacancy rate for Seoul’s grade A offices would remain in the single digit as of the third quarter this year. CBRE’s figure came to 8.9 percent, down 1.5 percentage point on-qua

South Korean brands are increasingly suffering from trademark infringement overseas, especially in Southeast Asia, according to the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Monday.As of July this year, 279 trademarks of Korean firms were acquired by a foreign party, KIPO said, citing data from the Global Brand Database of the World Intellectual Property Organization. The total number of suspected cases came to 1,140 in 62 countries worldwide.Of the total, 594 cases, or 52.1 percent, was in the Sou

South Korea and other donor states have collectively pledged to add $9.6 billion to the Green Climate Fund over the next four years. Asia’s fourth-largest economy will be the ninth-largest contributor, providing $200 million, which is double the amount it provided for the 2015-2018 period.The fund held its first high-level replenishment conference in Paris last week, seeking donations to finance its activities for the 2020-2023 period, Seoul’s Ministry of Economy and Finance said Mon

With financial authorities set to finish their monthslong investigation of the sale of high-risk derivatives-linked securities and related funds, key sellers are likely to be handed down heavy penalties for failing to properly warn investors of the risks.At the heart of the commotion was KEB Hana Bank, which has recently been found to have discreetly deleted related internal documents, attempting to stifle evidence. The market watchdog Financial Supervisory Service is scheduled to wrap up its in

South Korea extended its run of positive growth in the third quarter but that growth was slower than expected, jeopardizing the country’s annual growth target, central bank data showed Thursday.The country’s quarterly real gross domestic product for the July-September period climbed 2 percent from a year earlier and 0.4 percent from a quarter earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.This latest figure was largely seen as disappointing, especially considering the