NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

The Bank of Korea predicts that the nation's real gross domestic production will grow four percent this year. It is up one percentage point from the central bank's February forecast at three percent. Analysts say the revision is attributable to the global economy's rapid recovery and the nation's brisk exports. The BOK also raised its economic growth outlook for 2022 from 2.5 percent to three percent. Noting soaring prices of crude oil and raw materials, the central bank forecast that consumer prices will increase by 1.8 percent this year.
The Korea Customs Service says the nation's food exports reached a record high of 4.3 billion U.S. dollars last year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. It is up 14.6 percent from 2019. Ramyon was the most popular item and noodles worth over 600 million dollars were shipped out. Other popular items include kimchi, and traditional pastes and sauces. A Korea Customs Service official said the increase is thanks to continuing popularity of Korean pop culture overseas and growing demand for ready-to-eat food products amid the pandemic.
The Korea Customs Service said Thursday it is now looking into speculative forex investments that utilize higher cryptocurrency prices in South Korea. Speculators are accused of buying Bitcoins overseas and sending them to Korean cryptocurrency exchanges to make larger profit. The gains are then exchanged at local currency exchange stores and remitted overseas again. As Korean banks have placed restrictions on such allegedly speculative remittances, speculators are known to be using private money exchange shops.