WEEKLY ECONOMIC BULLETIN

February 22, 2013

MAJOR NEWS AND EVENTS

[MOSF] 2012 External Debt (February 20)

Korea’s foreign debt was US $413.4 billion as of the end of 2012, an increase of US $14.7 billion from the previous year. Short-term debt decreased by US$10.7 billion or 3.8 percentage points, taking up 30.6 percent, US $126.7 billion, of the total debt. More

[MOSF] 3rd Fiscal Management Meeting (February 19)

Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance Kim Dongyoun chaired the 3rd Fiscal Management Meeting and led a discussion on checking assessing fiscal expenditure performance at the end of January and fiscal expenditure management in the 1st quarter. More

[MOSF] MOU signed between Korea and India (February 18)

The Korean and Indian finance ministries signed an MOU to share policy experience on February 7, 2013. The MOU was agreed in the 3rd Korea-India Finance Ministers’ Meeting held in November last year, and is the 3rd ministry-level MOU promoting cooperation following MOUs with Uzbekistan and Vietnam. More

[MOSF] G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Meeting (February 18)

At the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting in Moscow held over February 15-16, Strategy and Finance Minister Bahk emphasized the need for cooperation to curb competitive currency devaluations, develop a global indicator to measure liquidity levels and the importance of Regional Financial Arrangements (RFAs). More

[BOK] Use of Internet Banking Services during 2012 (February 22)

As of the end of 2012, the number of subscribers to Internet banking services (including mobile banking services) at 19 financial institutions* totaled 86.43 million, up by 15.5% (+11.61 million) compared with the end of the preceding year (74.82 million). More

[BOK] Household Credit in Q4 2012 (February 21)

Total household credit outstanding rose by 23.6 trillion won in the fourth quarter of 2012 to stand at 959.4 trillion won as of end-December 2012. More

[MOSF] International Investment Position (IIP), End of 2012 (February 20)

As of the end of 2012, the outstanding amount of Korea's investment abroad stood at 842.0 billion dollars, an increase of 88.3 billion dollars from the end of 2011. More

[BOK] Dishonored Bill Ratio during January 2013 (February 19)

The nationwide dishonored bill ratio (before adjustment for electric settlement) for January registered 0.14%, similar to December’s 0.13%. More

[BOK] Producer Price Index during January 2013 (February 18)

The Producer Price Index rose by 0.2% month-on-month in January 2013―in year-on-year terms it fell by 1.6%. The month-on-month changes in the major sub-indices are as follows. More

ANNOUNCEMENT ON UPCOMING RELEASES

[MOSF]

• - KTB Issuance, 2012 (February 27)
• - Macro-economy and Finance Stability Report (February 28)
• - Industrial Activities, January 2013 (February 28)
• - Industrial Activities Analysis, January 2013 (February 28)
• - Overseas Direct Investment, 2012 (February 28)
• - KTB Issuance Schedule, March 2013 (February 28)

[BOK]

• - Trade Index & Terms of Trade: Annual 2012 and Jan 2013 (February 25)
• - Industrial Loans of Depository Corporations during Q4 2012 (February 26)
• - Meeting with Investment Banks (February 26)
• - Consumer Survey Index, February 2013 (February 27)
• - Balance of Payment: January 2013 (Preliminary) (February 27)
• - Interest Rates: January 2013 (February 27)
• - Business survey Index(BSI) & Economic Sentiment Index(ESI) for February 2013 (February 28)

Each institution is reponsible for the information it provides in the bulletin.

For further inquiries

Ministry of Strategy and Finance

Kang, Lauren +822 6908 8701 laurenkang@mosf.go.kr http://english.mosf.go.kr

Financial Services Commission

Kim, Mi Kyung +822 2156 9582 emkaykim@korea.kr http://english.mosf.go.kr

Bank of Korea

Son, Min Kun +822 759 4132 minkun@bok.or.kr http://english.mosf.go.kr