[Economic Outlook] LH Speculation Eradication Measures... Interest Also in February Employment and Unemployment Figures

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] This week, the government will continue to focus on preparing and implementing measures to prevent the recurrence of the LH (Korea Land and Housing Corporation) scandal. On the 12th, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Hong Nam-ki announced at the Real Estate Market Inspection Meeting that measures to eradicate real estate speculation and prevent recurrence would be prepared.

According to the government on the 14th, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Financial Services Commission, National Tax Service, National Police Agency, Seoul Metropolitan Government, and Financial Supervisory Service have formed a task force (TF) and started working on measures to eradicate speculation.

The anti-speculation measures are expected to be announced as early as this month. The measures are being prepared focusing on four areas: prevention, detection, punishment, and recovery of unjust profits. For prevention and detection, the government is considering the concurrent implementation of a real estate registration system and a reporting system. Currently, the obligation to register assets applies to public officials at grade 4 or higher, but for those related to real estate policy, the scope will be expanded to public officials at grade 5 or lower and all employees of public institutions. The reporting system requires public officials and employees of public institutions related to real estate policy to voluntarily report to their heads of institutions whenever they engage in real estate transactions.

On the 17th, Statistics Korea will announce the employment trends for February. The number of employed persons in January was 25,818,000, a decrease of 982,000 compared to a year earlier. This is the largest decline since December 1998 (-1,283,000) during the foreign exchange crisis. Many forecasts suggest that a similar situation will continue through February.

The Bank of Korea will release the 'February Export and Import Price Index' on the 16th. In January, the import price index (provisional figure based on the Korean won, 2015 level 100) was 100.74, up 2.8% from the previous month (98.02). This marks a rise for two consecutive months following a 2.1% increase in December.

Among raw materials, the price of minerals rose sharply by 7.0%, and among intermediate goods, coal and petroleum products increased by 5.3%. This was influenced by the international oil price based on Dubai crude, which averaged $54.82 per barrel in January, a 10% increase in one month. Agricultural, forestry, and fishery products also rose by 3.1%.

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