South Korea’s unemployment rate increased 0.1 percentage point to 4.6 percent in February, marking the highest monthly rate since February 2010 when it was 4.9 percent, the state-run Statistics Korea said Wednesday.With the holiday season including Lunar New Year and school breaks in February, the jobless rate increased on-year, the statistics bureau said. Also, companies do not usually start recruiting new employees or college graduates in the same month.In the same line, the country’s youth un

South Korea’s economic growth is expected to be virtually flat in the first quarter of this year, with its gross domestic product posting in the near zero percent range for six consecutive fiscal quarters, analysts said Tuesday.Concerns are mounting that Asia’s fourth-largest economy will be entering an indefinite period of low growth amid sluggish consumption, investment and production.Korea has been growing below 1 percent since the fourth quarter of 2013 when its growth stood at 0.9 percent a

South Korea saw a record high level of capital invested in short-term financial instruments as consumers and investors have been reluctant to invest in long-term assets due to low market interest rates following recent key base rate cuts.Short-term investments ― floating funds invested in repurchase agreements and money market funds with maturities of less than a year ― reached a record of 800.7 trillion won ($705 billion) at the end of January, according to the Bank of Korea and the Korea Finan

The Bank of Korea cut its key interest rate to a record low of 1.75 percent on Thursday to prevent deflation, despite growing concerns over household debt.The Korean central bank’s unexpected 25-basis-point rate cut opened the era of 1 percent interest rates in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Korea joins some 20 economies that are pursuing easy monetary policies to combat low growth and compete for weaker currencies.The record-low rate ― which a majority of analysts expected the BOK to freeze ― c

South Korea’s Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Wednesday that it would provide further financial support for small and medium enterprises to win overseas infrastructure deals.In a meeting with industry officials in Seoul on Wednesday, Vice Finance Minister Joo Hyung-hwan said the government would establish a system allowing public financial institutions to extend financing and guarantees for SMEs to carry out infrastructure projects abroad.“It will seek to expand policy financing by encoura

The Bank of Korea is expected to freeze its key base rate at the monetary policy committee meeting this week.However, it will likely face pressure to lower the key interest rate next month as deflation concerns further deepen, analysts said.BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol had indicated that the central bank would have to keep household debt in check following an increase in bank borrowing fueled by low interest rates, hinting that it may keep its rate steady this month.The central bank recently formed a co

The government will frontload a part of its policy fund in an effort to revive the economy this year amid low consumer prices, industrial production and wage growth.The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Monday that it would inject 10 trillion won into the market out of 15 trillion won remaining in the 46 trillion won policy fund.Media reports indicated that it would spend 10 trillion won by the first half of this year.However, the Finance Ministry did not give a specific timeline and said in

The Bank of Korea said Thursday that South Korea’s foreign currency liquidity remained fundamentally sound with a slight increase in short-term foreign debt last year.However, the rise in external debt with a maturity of less than a year was not severe enough to trigger concerns over the soundness of the country’s foreign portfolio.The short-term foreign debt increased by $3.5 billion to $115.3 billion at the end of last year, accounting for 27 percent of the total external liability of $425.4 b

South Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan on Wednesday expressed concerns about deflation and high youth unemployment.In an economic policy conference in Seoul on Wednesday, the country’s top fiscal policymaker said that although Korea’s inflation had not turned negative, concerns were mounting due to a continuing drop in consumer prices increase.When excluding an increase in cigarette prices, Korea’s consumer price growth has moved into negative territory.“We are

South Korea’s consumer price growth was nearly flat for the third straight month in February, the state-run statistics office said Tuesday.Statistics Korea reported that consumer prices increased 0.5 percent last month from a year ago, marking the slowest growth since 1999.The consumer price index has seen its annual growth stay below 1 percent since October 2013, when the inflation rate stood at 0.9 percent. Inflation dropped to 0.8 percent in Dec. last year and January this year.The Korean sta

Unlike in the U.S. or Japan, comic books in Korea have not been considered materials that can fuel creativity and imagination.Parents have discouraged their kids from reading comic books, let alone from becoming comic book artists and writers as they often lead a poor life.However, Lezhin Entertainment, the operator of the Lezhin webtoon platform, is working to change all that. Lezhin co-founders CTO Chris Kwon (left) and director Lee Sung-eobSince the service was launched in June 2013, the plat

South Koreans’ credit card spending reached 48.4 trillion won ($44 billion) last month, up 3 percent from the same period a year ago, the Credit Finance Association said Thursday.This marked the second-lowest increase since February last year, when credit card spending grew 2.5 percent on-year. In January 2014, the increase rate stood at 9 percent.CREFIA attributed the low increase to less overall spending in January as the Lunar New Year holiday was in February this year.This led to less retail

Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said Wednesday that uncertainty remains for the Korean economy as it is difficult to predict when the U.S. Federal Reserve would start to raise interest rates.In a meeting with economists and researchers, the country’s top monetary policymaker said the Fed calmed the global market by saying that it remained patient in raising rates.At the same time, the U.S. central bank’s statement increased uncertainty, making it much more difficult to predict its monetary policy

President Park Geun-hye’s economic policies to develop a creative economy have not borne fruit over the past two years, pundits said.The country still relies on conglomerate manufacturers to drive growth, a practice the International Monetary Fund has called unsustainable, and the general consensus is that starting a company is full of risks and dangers.“From a long-term perspective, relatively weak nonmanufacturing productivity has been accompanied by a heavy, and likely unsustainable, reliance

The Bank of Korea said Monday it would reset its mid-term inflation target range sometime in the second half of this year, while reiterating that it would maintain its monetary easing for the time being.In a policy briefing to the National Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee on Monday, BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said that a new target for 2016-2018 would be established after reviewing economic conditions.“We will seek an inflation target for 2016 (to 2018) that reflects the changing economic con

Yim Jong-ryong, the nominee for chairman of South Korea’s top financial regulator, is expected to face stiff criticism during his parliamentary confirmation hearing, as the Assembly is divided over his suitability.The opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy likened Yim to previous heads of the Financial Services Commission, calling the former vice finance minister a member of the “mofia” ― a portmanteau of the Ministry of Finance’s initials and the word “mafia.”The party questioned whethe

Taxes paid by South Korea’s middle-income earners increased six times as quickly as those of the top income bracket last year, according to Statistics Korea on Monday.The statistics bureau said that households with more than two people in the middle 20 percent by income ― the middle fifth ― saw direct taxes increase 13,200 won ($12) on average, compared to an average increase of 11,200 won for the top 20 percent of households, despite the latter group earning more than twice as much.Direct taxes

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Monday it would expand the scope of its tax incentives for conglomerates in line with efforts to induce them to increase investments, dividends and employees’ wages.The ministry said companies that increased investments to expand headquarters as well as production, retail and sales facilities would be exempted from paying related taxes.Spending on infrastructure such as warehouses, logistics centers and training institutes for employees will also be reco

The International Monetary Fund said Friday that the South Korean economy faces numerous downside risks to growth, forecasting a weaker-than-anticipated outlook for this year.Korea’s aging population, unsustainable reliance on manufacturing for growth, vulnerable household debt levels especially among low-income earners and weak consumer expectations are some of its domestic challenges.A prolonged weak Japanese yen, rising global deflation on the back of falling oil prices and weak growth outloo

South Korea’s consumer inflation rate fell below that of the average of the G7 economies last year for the first time in eight years, according to data by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.Korea’s annual inflation rate stood at 1.3 percent last year, compared to the G7 average of 1.6 percent. The G7 economies are the U.S., Japan, the U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Canada.Korea’s inflation rate also fell below the G7 average in 1999 and 2006.Falling global oil prices and