NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

Convened by Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki Monday, a ministerial economic meeting Monday and decided to devise a road map in the first half of this year to attract foreign investment in the nation;s digital and green New Deal projects. In relation, the government said despite stable foreign currency liquidity and capital inflow and outflow by foreigners, there remain uncertainties like the U.S.' rate hike. But it diagnosed foreigners' capital flight is limited, as yields on Korea's government bonds are higher than those of countries with similar sovereign credit ratings.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Monday South Korea's nominal gross domestic production was estimated at over 1.62 trillion U.S. dollars last year. If the estimated amount is confirmed, it places the nation at tenth in the 2020 world GDP rankings, as it is larger than that of Russia at 1.4 trillion dollars. South Korea's estimated ranking is up two notches from 2019. This is also the first time since 2018 the nation would make it to the world GDP list.

The National Tax Service has collected 36.6 billion won in taxes from 2,416 high-profile tax evaders who hid their wealth in virtual assets, like cryptocurrencies. The tax evaders were found to have dodged taxes by taking advantage of digital assets, which leave no records of financial transactions. The tax watchdog said this was the first enforced tax collection against such crypto evasions.