South Korea’s economy is expected to suffer its first annual contraction since the 1990s as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bank of Korea forecast yesterday as it cut interest rates to a record low.
The world’s 12th-largest economy is to shrink 0.2 percent, the central bank said, a dramatic downgrade from the 2.1 percent growth it had forecast in February.
The bank cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points to 0.5 percent, joining other central banks moving to try to stem the economic effects of the pandemic, which analysts have said threatens to cause a global recession.
“The growth of the domestic economy has slowed significantly” due to the novel coronavirus, and is expected to be sluggish and unpredictable in the future, the central bank said in a statement.
“The employment situation has deteriorated,” with many in the service sector losing jobs, while “exports fell significantly,” it said.
It is the second rate cut in three months, after a surprise 50 basis-point reduction to 0.75 percent in March.
South Korea is highly trade-dependent and saw its worst economic performance in more than a decade in the first quarter as the pandemic struck.
GDP shrank 1.4 percent year-on-year in the January-to-March period, its biggest decline since the fourth quarter of 2008 during the global financial crisis.
The IMF has forecast that the global economy would contract 3 percent this year, saying that it is expected to “experience its worst recession since the Great Depression” because of the novel coronavirus.
The IMF has predicted that the South Korean economy would shrink 1.2 percent this year.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS