North Korea, one of the world's most centrally planned and isolated economies, faces desperate economic conditions. Industrial capital stock is nearly beyond repair as a result of years of underinvestment and shortages of spare parts. Industrial and power output have declined in parallel. Due in part to severe summer flooding followed by dry weather conditions in the fall of 2006, the nation has suffered its 12th year of food shortages because of on-going systemic problems, including a lack of arable land, collective farming practices, and chronic shortages of tractors and fuel. Massive international food aid deliveries have allowed the people of North Korea to escape mass starvation since famine threatened in 1995, but the population continues to suffer from prolonged malnutrition and poor living conditions. Large-scale military spending eats up resources needed for investment and civilian consumption. In 2004, the regime formalized an arrangement whereby private "farmers' markets" were allowed to begin selling a wider range of goods. It also permitted some private farming on an experimental basis in an effort to boost agricultural output. In October 2005, the regime reversed some of these policies by forbidding private sales of grains and reinstituting a centralized food rationing system. By December 2005, the regime terminated most international humanitarian assistance operations in North Korea (calling instead for developmental assistance only) and restricted the activities of remaining international and non-governmental aid organizations such as the World Food Program. External food aid now comes primarily from China and South Korea in the form of grants and long-term concessional loans. Firm political control remains the Communist government's overriding concern, which will likely inhibit the loosening of economic regulations.
Since the 1960s, South Korea has achieved an incredible record of growth and integration into the high-tech modern world economy. Four decades ago, GDP per capita was comparable with levels in the poorer countries of Africa and Asia. In 2004, South Korea joined the trillion dollar club of world economies. Today its GDP per capita is equal to the lesser economies of the EU. This success was achieved by a system of close government/business ties, including directed credit, import restrictions, sponsorship of specific industries, and a strong labor effort. The government promoted the import of raw materials and technology at the expense of consumer goods and encouraged savings and investment over consumption. The Asian financial crisis of 1997-99 exposed longstanding weaknesses in South Korea's development model, including high debt/equity ratios, massive foreign borrowing, and an undisciplined financial sector. GDP plunged by 6.9% in 1998, then recovered by 9.5% in 1999 and 8.5% in 2000. Growth fell back to 3.3% in 2001 because of the slowing global economy, falling exports, and the perception that much-needed corporate and financial reforms had stalled. Led by consumer spending and exports, growth in 2002 was an impressive 7%, despite anemic global growth. Between 2003 and 2006, growth moderated to about 4-5%. A downturn in consumer spending was offset by rapid export growth. Moderate inflation, low unemployment, an export surplus, and fairly equal distribution of income characterize this solid economy.
More finance information from Korea:
General Economic Links:
| Chase.com |
| With many branches across the U.S., Chase provides many personal and business banking services
|
| DealBook |
| The New York Times online daily digest of finance news and analysis is constantly updated during the market day.
|
| Financial Times |
| This venerable international business newspaper reports extensively on business and stock markets.
|
| Financial-portal.com |
Portal presents comprehensive financial resources, articles, news, stats, indexes, financial institutions etc:
- articles on financial topics
- financial news
- latest currency charts
- latest gold, silver, platinum and other precious metal prices
- current financial indexes and dynamic graphs
- universal currency converters (all major currencies)
- stock, commodity and other major exchanges
|
| Finweb.com - the independent financial portal |
| "Financial security. Everyone wants it; few have it. Many do not realize that true financial security requires strength in every area of one’s financial affairs. It requires a systematic approach, a strategic plan implemented over time, in order to obtain it. But it can be obtained. With the proper educational training and discipline, financial stability and security is within anyone’s grasp. That’s why we’re here: to provide you with a solid foundation of valuable financial knowledge from which to proceed..."
|
| Fitch Ratings |
| Provides independent global credit rating information for the world’s credit markets
|
| Forbes.com |
| Extensive coverage of business and financial news, Forbes is one of the premier sites covering the world of business.
|
| Google Finance |
| Google Finance provides an unclutered interface to finance news, market summary with graphs, stock quotes, top movers and other indicators. Also search companies by stock code.
|
| Kiplinger |
| Personal finance site that offers calculators, business news, quotes and much more personal finance information
|
| MarketWatch |
| This Dow Jones operated site provides personal finance news, advice and stock market data and analysis
|
| MSN Money |
| The MSN (Microsoft Network) provides a finance portal including latest finance news, market updates and resources.
|
| Yahoo Finance |
| The Yahoo search engine provides a finance portal with breaking news, market summaries and editor articles.
|
|
