South Korea's exports rose 9.5 percent in February from a year earlier to extend their gains for the fourth consecutive month on robust shipments of chips, autos and other key products, data showed Monday. Exports came to $44.8 billion last month, compared with $40.9 billion a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Imports rose 13.9 percent to $42.1 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $2.71 billion. It marked the 10th consecutive month

South Korea and Switzerland have agreed to extend their bilateral currency swap deal that helps expand financial exchanges between the two countries, Seoul's central bank said Monday. The 11.2 trillion-won ($10.1 billion) currency swap, which had been scheduled to expire today, will be put in place for another 5 years, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a statement. The swap agreement enables Korean won and Swiss francs to be purchased and repurchased between the two central banks under a limit

South Korea's financial regulator will unveil a plan next month to further slow the growth of household debt, an official said Sunday. Household credit had reached a record high of 1,726.1 trillion won ($1.55 trillion) as of December last year, up 44.2 trillion won from three months earlier. Banks have been required to implement stricter screening rules for mortgage loans to better manage growing household debt. The debt service ratio (DSR), a barometer of risky household loans, measures ho

South Korea plans to sell 8 trillion won ($7.1 billion) worth of Treasury bills next month in a bid to fund its expansionary fiscal policy, the finance ministry said Friday. The bills, which have a maturity of 63 days, will be sold in five separate auctions in March, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. With the debt sale, the outstanding amount of Treasury bills is expected to rise to 15 trillion won next month. Treasury bills are usually floated to raise money to cover short-te

South Korean banks' lending rates edged down in January amid a slight decline in deposit rates, central bank data showed Friday. The average interest rate charged on new bank loans came to 2.72 percent in January, down 0.02 percentage point from the previous month, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The BOK cut the key interest rate to a record low of 0.5 percent in May last year after delivering an emergency rate cut of half a percentage point in March to cushion the

South Korean institutions' investment in foreign securities rose 12.8 percent on year in 2020 as global stocks rallied amid the coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Friday. The combined value of foreign securities held by institutional investors came to $369.3 billion as of end-December last year, up $41.8 billion from a year ago, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The tally rebounded from a $9.5 billion fall in the first quarter when global financial markets were hit by the fallo

South Korea's finance minister voiced hope on Friday that the start of the country's COVID-19 vaccine program will help people return to normal lives and give a boost to an economic recovery. Earlier in the day, more than 5,000 health care workers and patients aged under 65 at some 5,800 long-term care facilities across the nation began receiving the first doses of novel coronavirus vaccines. "I believe that the onset of the COVID-19 inoculation will give a precious boost to helping peopl

Sales of imported commercial vehicles in South Korea rose 15 percent in January from a year earlier on improved demand despite the coronavirus pandemic, an industry association said Friday. The number of newly registered imported commercial vehicles rose to 436 units last month from 379 a year earlier, the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement. Robust demand for tractors, dump trucks and special-purpose trucks gave a boost to the monthly result, i

The Bank of Korea (BOK) said Friday it plans to purchase as much as 7 trillion won ($6.2 billion) worth of government bonds in the first half of this year as it seeks to stabilize bond markets. The plan is aimed at easing volatility of bond yields because the government's issuance of bonds is expected to significantly increase, the BOK said in a statement. The minimum size of the bond purchase plan will be 5 trillion won, the BOK said. South Korea has increased sales of state debts to cushi

Turnover for tours, culture plunges 70-94 percent in a year

South Korea said Thursday it plans to suspend the operations of more coal-powered plants during spring time in line with its efforts to cut the emissions of fine dust. Under the plan, the country plans to halt the operation of 19 to 28 coal plants in March depending on the electricity demand, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. It will mark a sharp rise from nine to 17 plants suspended over the December-January period. The country's fine dust emissions from coal-powered pl

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki plans to attend a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of 20 major economies this week to discuss ways to tackle the pandemic, the finance ministry said Thursday. The meeting, to be chaired by Italy, will be held virtually Friday due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. G-20 financial chiefs and leaders of international organizations will discuss ways to strengthen policy coordination to cope wi

Central bank calls vaccination determining factor for economic growth

South Korea's fisheries output hit a four-year low last year due largely to sluggish aquaculture production and a fall in consumption amid the pandemic, data showed Thursday. The total fisheries output amounted to 3.71 million tons last year, up 3.8 percent from the previous year, according to Statistics Korea. The tally marked the smallest since 2016, when such output reached 3.26 million tons.Last year, the output from seaweed and oyster farming remained sluggish amid long rainy seasons. Fis

The number of jobs for wage workers in South Korea increased on-year in the June-August period of last year, but those in their 20s and 30s suffered extended employment slumps amid the pandemic, data showed Thursday. The number of paid employee jobs reached 19.1 million in the cited period, up 369,000 from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The quarterly tally was higher than an increase of 211,000 in the March-May period of 2020, when such jobs rose by the sma