Bersyukur itu WAJIB

am writing untuk peringatan buat diri sendiri yang semakin hari semakin malas nak pergi kerja, may after this crap been put in writing, the old me who committed, dedicated and focus will prevailed, Insyallah.

Makandak do remember,

6 month ago you asked Allah SWT  to gave you new job....
which you get it at 1st try,
you should bersyukur for that.
You been offered more than what you asked for ........
You should bersyukur for that.

Makandak do remember,

Jangan sampai Allah murka dan tarik balik segala rezeki yang di beri,
You have a house, but its not yours
You have a good car, but its not yours as well
You have hundreds thousand worth of loan to pay
You have yourself, your 3 anak bebulus to feed everyday
You don't want your parents to risau about you... don't you???

Do WAKE UP!!!!!!

"In The Footsteps of the Prophet ; How Muslims should Contribute to the ...

Salam Ramadhan to all,

before i post my own opinion and conclusion from this event, lets us all, heard from the Prof. Tariq himself.

Yours truly

Jalan-jalan cari makan sepanjang minggu

Sahara Tent Restaurant an Iraqi Cuisine @ Alamanda Shopping Center, Putrajaya with Pak Usu and family

Flora Terrace at Hampshire Residency, Jalan Tun Razak with long lost friend from High School, Che Ja

Manhattan Fish Market, Ampang Park with ICCM team, makan-makan in conjunction with Ramadhan 

Du'Vet the Vietnamese Cuisine at Suria KLCC with dear friend Haslinda Dato' Idris Shaari

Luv of my life till Jannah, Insyallah ~Mak & Abah

Mak & abah meant a world to me, I won't be what I'm now without their love, guidance and determination. Abah highest formal education was special class of Johor religious school while Mak only up to standard 5 Malay school but their ability to raised us all to be well educated is amazing.

Out of eight siblings seven has at least a 1st degree with one of my sister currently pursuing her PHD in Australia while my 3rd. brother has MBA from UK university and another two currently pursuing their MBA on part time basis.

I'm not a bright student while in school, the result was just so so - cukup makan- but it was miracle during general exam such as PMR or SPM I get quite a good result ... to the extend my classmate and teachers show their unbelievable faces to me.. shock to the max I would say ... hahaha I guess this is due to what my Mak and Abah doing every time we sat for an exam ... They will fasting, read Quran and did sembahyang hajat thru out the time examination take place.... 3 jam kita jawap soalan di sekolah, 3 jam jugalah mereka di tikar sejadah memohon doa agar the anak can answer the question... how lucky am I compared to some that  had ignorant parents out there.

I felt bless to have such amazing parents like them .... الحمد لله رب العلمين terima kasih Allah, thanks you Allah sooooo much.

For me, every day is mothers and fathers day ..... hahaha simply to justify my very late mothers and fathers day gift for them so I just simply say that this small appreciation token is in conjunction of Hari raya celebration. So here there 're ... a watch for beloved abah and bracelet for beloved Mak .... Walaupun harganya tak seberapa harap-harap la dia orang suka. Walau apa pun jua pastinya jasa mereka tak akan mampu terbalaskan walau dengan my nyawa sekalipun jua...

when talking about me and shopping, I would categorised myself as a good bargainer, but when its come to bought gift for mak and abah, i simply ignore about getting the cheapest price but go for quality instead, i want the best for them both (of course it within my spending ability). Just to quote what my mum always said... manusia tidak akan mungkin menongkat dunia in other words kematian itu pasti, berbaktilah selagi mereka ada, berilah yang terbaik yang kita mampu, spent time with them, talk and call them regularly or better still make it daily habit to call them up.... kerana kita tak mungkin akan tahu sampai bila kita mampu buat demikian... DO IT NOW BEFORE IT TOO LATE ...

~LUV U MAK & ABAH, may blessing of Allah SWT be with you both 4ever my luv~

My article that has been published

This article was actually my one and only article that I ever sent out and it was appeared in Utusan Malaysia backed there in 1998, sadly due to certain reason not known to me, the article that appeared were post edited version where some of my thought has been missing, since I have my own blog now, I will rewrote in original version.

BERSATU PULIHKAN EKONOMI NEGARA

Saudara Pengarang,

Rakyat Malaysia sememangnya telah lama sedar akan dugaan ekonomi yang melanda kita kini. Selain Thailand, Indonesia dan Korea Selatan yang mendapatkan bantuan IMF, tidak dapat dinafikan negara kita adalah antara yang terjejas teruk. Seperti warga Malaysia lainya, saya turut mengharapkan ekonomi kita akan pulih segera.

Selain pelan pemulihan yang baik, faktor kestabilan politik dan perpaduan bangsa Malaysia mesti diambil perhatian serius. Kepentingan peribadi mesti diketepikan seketika, kita sedar proses pemilihan kepimpinan UMNO akan berlangsung tahun hadapan tetapi riak-riak sesetengah pemimpin mengumpul pengaruh dapat di lihat kini. Kenyataan politik adalah kotor bukan asing kepada kita. Benarkah ianya kotor atau sebenarnya tindak tanduk sesetengah ahli politik yang menghalalkan segala cara untuk mencapai matlamat mereka menjadikan politik kotor itu satu istilah yang sinonim. Tidak bolehkah kepentingan peribadi dikesampingkan??? Perjuangan untuk memulihkan negara daripada kemelestan ekonomi yang berpanjangan patut menjadi agenda utama semua yang menganggap atau mendabik dada dan gah mengatakan mereka adalah seorang pemimpin.

Perpaduan bangsa Malaysia adalah kunci utama. Bagaimana ianya dapat dicapai andai pemimpin sendiri tidak keruan. Janganlah menjadi umpama ketam mengajar anaknya berjalan lurus. Usaha aktivis masyarakat seperti Dato' Lee Lam Tye dalam memperjuangkan perpaduan seluruh bangsa Malaysia patut dicontohi dan disokong oleh pemimpin-pemimpin melayu, cina dan india lainya. Selagi kita bersatu, Insyallah segala dugaan akan dapat kita harungi bersama.

Tidak cukupkah penerangan Perdana Menteri dan pemimpin lain serta peranan media di dalam menjelaskan kepada rakyat Malaysia mengenai kegawatan ekonomi ini??? Perlukah atau apakah kewajarannya kehadiran golongan yang menggelarkan diri mereka sebagai vateran UMNO melakukan 'road show' yang mempunyai tujuan yang sama dan kepada khalayak yang serupa??? Adakah ianya satu pembaziran atau sebenarnya mereka ini mempunyai agenda tersendiri??? Saya mempertikaikan kewajaran ini berpunca daripada kehadiran seorang bekas pemimpin negeri yang gagal dihadapkan ke mahkamah kerana ketidak cukupan bukti. Adakah beliau ini seorang vateran UMNO??? Ini bukan bererti sumbangan vateran UMNO tidak di perlukan lagi, jauh sekali menidakan jasa mereka yang begitu besar kepada negara. Mereka patut bertindak umpama seorang ayah, ibu, abang atau kakak yang dapat menegur dan menasihatkan anak-anak atau adik-adik memilih jalan yang betul dan bukannya mengeruhkan lagi suasana. Kenyataan dan pendapat yang disuarakan oleh tokoh vateran UMNO, Tan Sri Ghazali Shafiee di dalam rancangan MALAYSIA HARI INI bertarikh 26 August 1998 umpamanya, perlu diambil perhatian bukan sahaja oleh rakyat tetapi juga pemimpin negara Malaysia yang tercinta ini.

Apabila negara kita diserang oleh berita-berita negatif tulisan media asing, kita secara mudah mengambil kesimpulan singkat bahawa mereka ini dengki dan iri hati dengan kemakmuran negara kita, sebaliknya tatkala pujian diberikan, kita mudah lupa diri, "Lihatlah kejayaan kita diakui dunia" gahnya kita, sedangkan mereka tersenyum sinis memerhati. Ikhlaskah pujian mereka ini??? Secara peribadi saya berpendapat kritikan boleh menyedarkan kita, sebaliknya pujian boleh mengalpakan kita. Tidak bolehkah kita mengambil pendekatan positif dalam hal ini, kata pepatah "Tiada angin masakan pokok bergoyang" tetapi jangan lupa mungkin juga goyangnya pokok kerana adanya monyet atau tupai yang bergayutan.

Jika kenyataan media itu tidak benar, mereka yang berkenaan perlulah menerangkan kebenaran itu kepada rakyat agar ianya dapat di fahami dan tidak disilap tafsir, itu yang lebih utama. Janganlah kita takut akan bayang-bayang sendiri. Media asing tidak akan mampu menjatuhkan kita selagi bangsa Malaysia bersatu. Janganlah kita terlalu banyak menyalahkan orang lain atas musibah yang melanda. Lihatlah kedalam diri, mungkin terdapat beberapa kelemahan kita yang memberi ruang kepada spekulator asing atau pihak berkepentingan lain memanipulasi kelemahan ini.

Tindakan melakukan perjanjian dengan agensi berita asing untuk melaporkan yang baik mengenai Malaysia bukanlah langkah yang bijak. Tidak mustahil berita-berita negatif tidak berasas yang di tulis mereka semata-mata bertujuan untuk mendapatan kontrak-kontrak sebegini yang bukan sedikit nilainya. Kita tidak perlu membazir tenaga dan wang ringgit untuk melayan kehendak mereka ini.

Kita mungkin khuatir berita-berita negatif ini akan merencatkan niat pelabur melabur atau pelancong asing melancong ke sini. Sejauh mana kesannya??? Saya percaya ahli perniagaan hebat tidak akan membuat keputusan pelaburan hanya berdasarkanh khabar angin semata-mata. Terbaru penerbitan sebuah filem barat yang memburukan penjara Malaysia, adakah ianya akan merencatkan niat pelancong asing melancong ke Malaysia?? Tiada sebab mereka hendak berbuat demikian jika tujuan mereka semata-mata untuk melihat keindahan negara kita. Sebaliknya mereka yang ingin melakukan jenyah mungkin terpaksa berfikir dua kali.

Persengkitaan dengan negara jiran acapkali terjadi. Tindakan negara berkenaan menjadikan Malaysia sebagai isu untuk menyatukan rakyatnya, jika benar amat kita kesali. Tetapi sedar atau tidak kenyataan ini umpama menepuk air di dulang. Mungkin benar kecanggihan KLIA dan KLCC juga pusat pentadbiran kerjaan Putrajaya menimbulkan irihati lantas perbandingan di beri, kritikan bertalu-talu di terima. Tidak bolehkah kita jadikan kritikan mereka sebagai cabaran untuk memberikan yang terbaik, pastinya dalam jangka panjang ia akan dapat meningkatkan reputasi kita di peringkat antarabangsa.

Tidak irihatikah kita atas pencapaian mereka??? Umpamanya di saat gawat ini, sektor kewangan dan perbankan mereka di berikan penarafan sebagai yang terbaik di Asia dan ke-7 di dunia oleh sebuah agensi penarafan antarabangsa. Mungikin akan ada yang berkata pencapaian mereka ini di sebabkan pasaran mereka tidak di serang oleh spekulator asing seperti yang kita hadapi. Mengapa terjadi demikian??? Jika isu ini terlalu sukar untuk di mengertikan, biarlah ianya menjadi persoalan yang patut dijawab oleh mereka yang pakar.

Tidak irihatikah kita melihat bandaraya negara jiran yang bersih atau bagaimana berjayanya mereka mendisplinkan rakyatnya supaya tidak membuang sampah merata-rata. Mungkin akan ada yang berkata mana mungkin membandingkan negara berpenduduk 20 juta dengan negara yang berpenduduk 3 juta. Tidak perlu kita ambil Malaysia sebagai perbandingan, Kuala Lumpur rasanya lebih realistik. Jika warga Kuala Lumpur lebih bertanggungjawab, pastinya kos membersih dan menceriakanya menjelang SUKOM 98 tidaklah setinggi kini. Tidak bolehkah pasangan bercerai ini duduk semeja, perkongsian bistari saranan Perdana Menteri tidak bolehkah di aplikasikan dalam hubungan kedua negara ini??? Malaysia bukan ancaman kepada sesiapa, justeru tidak adil bagi sesiapa pun jua mengancam kemakmuran kita.

sikap menyalahkan orang lain tidak akan membawa kita kemana-mana, kenal pasti dan perbaikilah kelemahan yang ada, pastinya dengan sokongan rakyat yang jitu tidak mustahil kita mampu muncul sebagai kuasa ekonomi baru yang lebih mampan. Kejayaan negara Jepun bangun dari mimpi ngeri Hiroshima dan Nagasaki adalah contoh nyata, kita tidak perlu menghebahkan kepada dunia setiap pencapaian kita. Tempoh bercakap telahpun tamat, kini tibalah masa untuk bertindak merealisasikan segala yang tersurat di sebalik yang tersirat.

Menutup tulisan ini, ingin saya coretkan kata-kata daripada bekas Perdana Menteri yang amat kita sanjungi Tun Abdul Razak, semoga ianya menjadi panduan kepada kita bangsa Malaysia.

"High mouintains, we'll climb together,

Deep seas united we'll swim,

Lets us with one heart endeavour,

To overcome our difficulties and WIN"

----KepadaMU Ya Allah kami BerSerah ----

Walaupun mungkin posting ini sekadar sia-sia, tetapi jauh di sudut hati 0.000000001% still berharap miracle do exist dan makandak akan dapat kembali Pendant pemberian my beloved abah ini.....

" Makandak telah di ragut di Taman Seri Gombak pada kira-kira pukul 1230 tgh hari 7-2-2012, I don"t care much about the rantai as I bought it myself but the pendant has significant value to me as this been given by my beloved abah, kepada pengusaha kedai emas atau sesiapa juga  yg di datangi oleh peragut ini atau di hadiahkan pendant ragut ini - as this was specially made for me - only 1 in whole wide world, harap dapat memulangkan kembali at least the Pendant to me"

Utk Peragut, Semoga Allah SWT membalas kejahatan yang anda lakukan..... u're neither human nor animal... for myself u're syaitan bertopengkan manusia...... lebih hina dari binantang... 

Prior to that, on January 31,2012 I was involved in car accident, whereby someone has bang his car into  cik CITY of mine while we both stop at red traffic light, tho it was not my fault, as a result I'm currently CAR less until further notice, luckily I still has my cik WIRA with me.

Also in January , I was offered a position of AP Accountant with MNC company with Five figure salary, but the offer has been pull back due to unsatisfactory pre-employment medical screening, tho 2nd opinion say differently, I believed that not my rezeki after all, semoga Allah SWT mengantikanya dengan sesuatu yang lebih baik buat makandak dunia akhirat, Insyallah.

While early January 2012, my beloved abah has been diagnosed with certain illness and had undergo an operation, Alhamdulillah tho currently still at recovery state, he is getting better day by day.... always pray for his fast recovery, Ameen.

Before all those above, in the middle of last year or around September 2011, my beloved kak long has been diagnosed with bone cancer stage 4, she now under Iressa 250 mg medication as alternative of chemotherapy, semoga Allah SWT memudahkan jalan penyembuhan buat abah dan kak long, Insyallah.

Sepertinya dugaan yang silih berganti Allah SWT berikan pada makandak dan keluarga, sehingga seorang kawan memberi cadangan agar makandak mandi bunga, mandi tolak bala dan sebagainya.... Tetapi pada makandak Allah SWT tidak akan sekali kali menzalimi hambanya, justeru DIA menduga setakat kemampuan kita hambanya, makandak percaya itu, pastinya ada hikmah yang tersembunyi yang mungkin kita tidak sedari.Insyallah pasti ada cahaya di hujung perjalanan....

Sesuatu yang pasti dugaan-dugaan ini menjadikan kami sekeluarga lebih dekat padaNYA dan antara satu sama lain juga, sentiasa memohon semoga di permudahkan segala urusan kami kedepannya.

Ya Allah ya Tuhan Kami, KepadaMU kami beriman, kepadaMU kami bertawakal, kepadaMU kami berserah diri, Permudahkanlah urusan Kami, Jadikanlah kami hambaMu yang sentiasa bersyukur dalam menerima segala  RahmatMU, bersabar dalam menerima segala dugaanMU dan sentiasa Redha dalam menerima segala ketentuanMU. Hidupkanlah kami dalam Iman, Matikanlah kami dalam IMAN serta berkatilah kehidupan kami di dunia dan Akhirat. Ameen ya Rob.......

simple hire-purchase loan calculation for prospective new car owner

hi everyone.... wishing all Malaysian have a great long holiday. As usual, being typically me long holiday mean travel 350km south bound visiting my beloved parents is must do agenda... but not this time as I'm on day 2 of 30 days CAR less challenge, furthermore mid-term exam is around the corner, to be exact will seat for my mid-term next week.

to those who planning getting your new car, please be aware that interest rate been provided to us by the car dealer sometimes bit misleading as such it's important for us to know how much the actual interest rate that we actually have to pay.

simple calculation as follows, its based on current price of MAZDA 3 in Malaysia.

DETAILS

Car brand/ Type : Mazda3 CKD sport 2.0 HB

Retail Price with Insurance : RM139,760.20

Down payment (10%) : RM 14,044.00

Total loan required : RM125,716.20

Tenure : 7 years

Interest Rate : 2.6%

PV= RM125,716.20 n=7 i=2.6%

1. What total interest will becharged on this loan for entire 7 years duration?

Ø RM125,716.20 x 0.026 x 7

= RM22,880.35

2. What is the monthly instalment?

Ø (RM125,716.20 + RM22,880.35) / (7 x 12)

Ø RM148,596.55 / 84

= RM1,769.00

3. What annual percentage rate(APR) is actually being charged here?

PMT = RM1,769.00 n = 84 PV= RM125,716.20 FV = 0

I = solve = 0.40556

Annual Rate = 0.40556 x 12

= 4.8667%

4. What is the effective annualrate (EAR)?

EAR = (1 + 0.048667 / 12) ¹² - 1

= 0.049767 x 100

= 4.98%

5. After paying the 50^th.Instalment, what will be the loan balance ?

PMT = RM1,769.00 i = 4.8667/12 = 0.40556 n = 84 – 50 = 34 FV = 0

PV = solve = RM56,077.45

Based on above calculation when the car dealer told us that the interest rate is 2.6%, the effective annual rate that we have actually been charged were 4.98%, so its advisable to have more down payment, to lower down amount of loan required.

Happy shopping on your NEW CAR............. much luv, makandak

TB bukan TV

Pernahkah anda menjangka anda Akan terkena penyakit ini? Being a bit ignorant myself makandak totally shocked , surprised to the maximum i would say.... sangat terkejut ok.. I had been diagnosed with that particular illness. Lebih-lebih lagi bila the finding was done by Prince Court Medical Center during my pre screening medical check up. As the result actually on pre-screening, further check-up or investigation need to be done to ascertain the initial finding.

Medical report

To seek 2nd opinion, makandak was advised by prospective employer to do that at their other panel hospital to ensure acceptance of the finding and most probably much cheaper from PCMC since this time around makandak have to bear the cost myself... The chosen one was KPJ Tawakkal at Jalan Pahang- all in test that I have to redo were 1. Repetition of Blood test that cost me RM397.00 2. Repetition of x-ray that cost me RM40.00 3. additional test - Mantoux test - RM170,  one test for TB that cannot be done on me was Sputum test as I don't have any 'kahak' to be tested... X demam or batuk .... So how la kan.

Mantoux test done - sakit cam kena gigit semut api... huhuh:(( 

Result 

Alhamdulillah , I was found -ve of M. tuberculosis @ TB, bersyukur sangat-sangat.....................................

play time.....

Happy new year 2012

Today is 1-1-2012, may blessing of Allah be with us thruout the year, more successful personal as well as professionally.

For myself, I don't have any specific resolution ... Just simply would like to be a better Muslim , daughter, sister.. aunty, wife, mummy Insyallah.... Be a better person each day, much better than yesterday. Ameen.

Below some of fireworks that I manage to snap from my apartment balcony.

Window shopping @ Johor Premium outlet

Due to my abah and mum health condition m decided to spent my year end vacation with them instead of going somewhere else.

Being in Johor, myself and beloved sister decided to go to new shopping attraction not really for shopping but just to find out how the place... Here we came ... Johor Premium Outlet.

the Q was so looooooooooog  at Coach

~Akim & Fahim enjoying themselves while mummy and makandak window shopping~

~COACH~

~MICHAEL KORS , i happen to know this designer while following American next top model ~

~the building was sooooooo Johor ok, i like :))~

~macam kat padang pasir pun ada~

~ARMANI outlet & many more~

My conclusion: not bad, there are variety of choices with reasonable prices, 'rambang mata' di buatnya... Make sure you plan yourself as I was informed this place were over crowded during weekend and public holiday especially with Singaporean. but in term of tempat makan, much room for improvement..... 

Dynamic Korea

Business Economics written analysis

Country Background

The Republic of Korea also known as South Korea was founded on August 15,1948  the young independence country was invaded by the North Korea in 1950, the Korean war ended in 1953 without a peace agreement, leaving South Korea technically at war for more than fifty year with it northern neighboring country.

Major Cities: The largest cities are Seoul which also the Capital city of South Korea (11 million), Pusan (3.9 million), Taegu (2.5 million), Inch’n (2.4 million), Kwangju (1.4 million), and Taejn (1.3 million).

Population: As at 2010 South Korea’s population was estimated to be 48,875,000.

Demography 20.4 percent of the population is less than 15 years of age, 71.4 percent is 15–64, and 8.2 percent of the population is aged 65 or older. By 2030 it is expected that more than 20 percent of the population will be 65 or older.The overall life expectancy was: 71.9 years for men and 79.5 years for women.

Education and Literacy: Korean society historically has prized learning and the well educated, yet education was not widely available to all until after the Korean War. As late as 1945, less than 20 percent of Koreans had received formal education of any kind. South Korea has compulsory education through the ninth grade, with 95 percent of school-age children attending high school. The literacy rate is 98 percent.

Health: Although life expectancy has increased significantly since 1950, South Korea faces a number of important health-care issues. Foremost is the impact of environmental pollution and poor sanitation on an increasingly urbanized population. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, chronic diseases account for the majority of diseases in South Korea, a condition exacerbated by the health care system’s focus on treatment rather than prevention. The incidence of chronic disease in South Korea hovers around 24 percent. Approximately 33 percent of all adults smoke. In 2001 central government expenditures on health care accounted for about 6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Government & Politics: South Korea is a republic governed by directly elected president with powers shared between Executive – President (chief of state) and Prime Minister (head of government), Legislative – unicameral National Assembly and Judicial – Supreme courts appellate courts and constitutional courts. South Korea current president Lee Myung-bak took up office in February 2008.

Foreign Relations& International trade: In addition to its extensive network of trading partners, South Korea has diplomatic relations with more than 180 nations. Since the 1980s, relations with China have played an increasingly important role in South Korean politics and economics, particularly in relation to North Korea. South Korea maintains close military, economic, and diplomatic relations with the United States, although at times those relations are strained by domestic opposition to the U.S. military presence on the peninsula. In spite of long-standing animosity to Japan during the 36-year occupation of the Korean Peninsula, economic and diplomatic relations between the two nations are increasingly close. South Korea has became member of United Nation since August 1991, Economic consideration have a major role in South Korea foreign policy, it is one of founding member of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), ASEAN plus three as well as East Asia Summit (EAS).

Economy: South Korea had one of the world's fastest growing economies from the early 1960s to the late 1990s, and South Korea is still one of the fastest growing developed countries in the 2000s, along with Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan, the other three members of Asian Tigers. The South Korean economy is heavily dependent on international trade, and in 2010, South Korea was the sixth largest exporter and tenth largest importer in the world. Current major contributor by industry to South Korean economy are Services 57.6%,  followed by electronic, telecommunication and automotive industry  39.4% , whilst agriculture contribute the least or 3% only. Largest companies are Samsung Electronics, Hyundai motor, Hyundai heavy industries, LG Corp and Shinan Financial Group.

However, during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s exposed a variety of structural weaknesses in the South Korean economy. Foreign reserves were insufficient, foreign borrowing was extensive (and by the end of 1996, 58 percent of external debt was short- term), and corporate debt/equity ratios were extremely high. The surge in debt, a result in part of government policies that failed to rein in a corporate culture that favored expansion over profits, became a significant vulnerability. Several major bankruptcies spurred banks to tighten their lending policies, and the subsequent capital shortage further aggravated an already weakened private sector. More bankruptcies followed. Add to these factors the perception that the Ministry of Finance and Economy was bungling matters, and a crisis of confidence led foreign investors to pull out of South Korea, exacerbating the foreign reserve shortage. By the end of 1997, South Korea was in the midst of a full-fledged foreign exchange crisis, and in order to prevent a total economic collapse, it was forced to secure an emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). South Korea’s recovery from the crisis, at least in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) growth, was remarkable and to an extent helped hide still present, difficult microeconomic conditions. GDP, which shrank by 6.7 percent in 1998, grew by 10.9 percent in 1999. In August 2000, the IMF “graduated” South Korea from its restructuring program.

South Korea Macroeconomic Analysis (2000 – 2010)

Overview: South Korea Economic indicator

Year	Real GDP growth (%)	GDP percapita (USD)	Inflation rate (%)	Unemployment Rates (%)
2000	8.4	17,110	3.2	2.8
2001	4.3	18,110	3.1	3.1
2002	7.2	19,670	2.8	3.7
2003	3.6	20,200	3.3	3.1
2004	5.2	21,690	3.6	2.9
2005	4.7	22,760	2.5	2.8
2006	5	24,320	3.1	3.2
2007	5.1	26,240	2.5	3.4
2008	2.3	27,080	4.7	3.2
2009	0.2	27,250	2.8	3.3
2010	6.1	29,010	2.9	3.7

Source: World bank

South Korea: 2000-2007

After a long post-crisis boom, the Korean economy has begun to sputter. However, the domestic demand has stagnated for the past seven years (2000 to 2007), forcing the economy to rely on exports. These boomed in 2003, but have slowed, reducing growth to low levels.

What has gone wrong? The answers are several.

1.      Households and SMEs have been unable to spend, as they are repairing their balance sheets following a long credit boom. Meanwhile, corporations have become reluctant to invest domestically, mainly because they are discouraged by the highly regulated labor market.

2.      Reviving the economy will consequently require restarting the domestic engines of growth.

a)    Providing a Macroeconomic Spark

The authorities supplemented the budgeted spending with a“General Investment Plan for Economic Revitalization” by the plan for additional fiscal stimulus. Regarding the exchange rate, the authorities allowed the Won to appreciate, consistent with their flexible exchange rate policy.

b)    Reviving Household Spending

Household spending was revived by:

·      Personal Debt Rehabilitation Program (PDRP), which allows court-supervised debt restructuring go outside of bankruptcy.

·      Efforts to accelerate debt resolution, it would also be important to lay the groundwork for households to regain access to credit.

c)     Revitalizing the Small and Medium Enterprises

The SME sector accounts for half of manufacturing output. To a certain extent, the sector’s problems are cyclical whereby many firms have been hit hard by the slowdown in domestic demand, and as demand recovers, as well as on theirs’ financial position. The government has recognized this problem, and in July 2004 formulated a plan to deal with it that guarantees would be directed away from well-established firms toward start-ups and new technology companies. In addition, a government-run credit bureau for SMEs was established, to provide banks with the information they need to undertake risk-based—rather than guarantee-based—lending. Fundamentally, a new framework, whereby the private sector plays a dominant role in allocating capital and measured were taken to direct provided to SMEs, especially start-ups.  However, Korea’s were remaining structural problems in the household and SME sectors expose it to a domestic demand shock as well as SME triggered failure results to decline in property prices, reducing consumption and investment, which would further reduce SME profitability.

d)    Unleashing Corporate Investment

As with the other structural challenges, making South Korea an attractive place to invest will require a further reduction in government regulation and intervention. Most important would be a modernization of the labor market. But the fundamental labor market problem, whereby the strict employment protection for regular workers incurs. Seeking to narrow these gaps, the government has proposed two bills to protect non regular workers by prohibiting “unreasonable discrimination. For this reason, the team welcomed the Tripartite Commission’s consideration of the example of Spain’s labor market reform strategy, among others, to see if it can be applied to Korea.

Other issues faced by South Korea:

        i.            Financial supervision

A unified and independent supervisor was elected for financial supervision. An official investigation has concluded that the overlapping responsibilities of the three agencies involved in financial supervision (the FSC, the FSS, and MOFE) had indeed contributed to the credit card crisis.

     ii.            Population aging

Korea’s population is aging rapidly, a process which could propel the National Pension System into sizeable deficit by 2030. In the longer-run, Korea faces a rapid aging of its population, presenting a major risk to fiscal sustainability. The National Pension System is projected to swing into deficits of as much as 8 percent of GDP after 2030. In 2003 the authorities proposed to phase in reforms over time, including lowering the income replacement rate to 50 percent by 2008 from the current 60 percent, and raising the contribution rate to 16 percent by 2030 from the current 9 percent.

   iii.            Trade :Korea’s trade barriers remain high by OECD standards, especially in the agricultural sector. Out-of-quota tariffs for agricultural products averaged 50 percent in 2003; agricultural support is almost double the OECD average; and domestic rice price share more than three times the world level.

   iv.            Data : Korea's provision of data is broadly satisfactory for surveillance purposes. A vast array of high-quality statistics is published, with short time lags, providing a strong base for policy assessment. The authorities' also plans to build on this base by developing more comprehensive data on the financial and fiscal sectors.

Korean growth has a high standard deviation in the last 10 years at 4.8 percent, so a shocked of one standard deviation would imply a 0.8 percent decline in real GDP in 2005. The scenario is due to the exchange rate depreciates by 5 percent. The primary fiscal balance would fall as revenues declined while primary. Spending is unchanged in real terms, but the current account surplus would rise as imports declined.

Public debt remains below 50 percent of GDP even in the face of extreme shocks. In the baseline, public debt remains broadly stable as a ratio to GDP, as the central government budget returned to balance (excluding the accumulation of social security funds) in 2008 in line with the government’s medium-term fiscal plan, and as GDP growth offsets the increase in debt due to the planned rollover of guaranteed bonds into treasury bonds amounting to 8 percent of GDP. The shock to real GDP has the greatest impact, lifting public debt to 46 percent of GDP by 2009, but the shocked was extreme, with a permanent GDP fall of 18 percent below its historical average, and the primary deficit rising by 4 percentage points of GDP. Public debt rises to 34 percent of GDP with variables at their historical average, but this is due to the social security surplus was small in the past and because of the impact of the 1997–98 crisis on the fiscal balance. Under the above country specific scenario, public debt rises modestly, to 25 percent of GDP.

External debt is most sensitive to exchange rate shocks, but the shocked of the assumed magnitude appeared very unlikely Korean external debt remained about 25 percent of GDP in the baseline, as the current account surplus declined toward balance and as net non-debt creating inflows decline from the high levels after the crisis. Most shocked relatively modest impact on the external debt path, but the two exchange rate shocks have a substantial impact:

• 30 percent exchange rate depreciation lifted the external debt ratio to 42 percent;

•  two standard deviation shocked lifts the external debt ratio to 62 percent—the exchange rate falls by 55 percent given the 13.5 percent standard deviation of the exchanged rate due to the volatility in 1997–98. Such large permanent shocked to the real exchange rate seem highly unlikely for a manufactured goods exporting country like Korea

South Korea: During the recession years: 2008-2009

The recent global financial crisis, which originated from the subprime segment of the U.S. mortgage market, quickly spread through financial and real channels, and severely affected many economies. Korea’s economy too was hit by the global financial crisis due to the sudden drying up of liquidity and the collapse of global trade despite having strong macroeconomic fundamentals before the outbreak of the crisis.

Given the characteristics of its financial system and economy, Korea was vulnerable to the disruptive effects of an unanticipated external shock. Macroeconomic performance in the years leading up to the global crisis was strong, and the banking system was adequately capitalized and with little exposure to securities at the heart of the crisis. However, balance sheet vulnerabilities had been building up in other parts of the economy, making the Korean economy susceptible to shocks. Short-term foreign currency debt of the banking system and household and small- and medium-enterprise (SME) debt had risen sharply in the years leading to the global crisis.

The impacts of the financial crisis to Korea were:

1.  The country’s GDP was reduced by 4.58% in year 2009.

2. Triggered by a flight-to-safety, the country risk premium of Korea rose sharply while its currency depreciated abruptly. Korea’s country risk premium had been rising gradually during 2008 along with the depreciation of its exchange rate, reflecting the rise in global risk aversion. Following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, Korea’s risk premium reached about 400 basis points and the won lost around half of its value.

3. The crisis also worsened household and firm balance sheets, and led to an increase in their borrowing costs. The deterioration on the firms' side was much larger, since these companies were exposed both financially and economically through their dependence on exports. The worsening of the nonfinancial sector's balance sheet was reflected in its cost of borrowing, and the external financing premium rose by about 200 basis points during the crisis. Higher funding costs worsened the nonfinancial sector’s balance.

4. The developments in the financial indicators affected the real aggregate variables with a lag, and the rise in borrowing costs of the nonfinancial sector and the fall in overall exports contributed to the contraction in investment and output during 2008–2009.

5.  The impact of the global financial crisis on the Korean economy and the accumulated and lagged effects of financial instability on macroeconomic variables suggest that an IT framework incorporating financial stability indicators could be more preemptive and better insulate the Korean economy from such external shocks.

However, even renowned financial organizations, such as the International Monetary Fund complimented the resilience of the South Korean economy against various economic crises, citing low state debt, and high fiscal reserves that can quickly be mobilized to address any expected financial emergencies.

South Korea was one of the few developed countries that were able to avoid a recession during the global financial crisis, and its economic growth rate reached 6.1 percent in 2010, a sharp recovery from economic growth rates of 2.3% in 2008 and 0.2% in 2009 when the global financial crisis hit. The unemployment rate in South Korea also remained low in 2009 at 3.6%.

Further to that, South Korean automakers have been generally much more profitable than their US and Japanese counterparts, recording strong growth even in depressed markets such as the United States. Hyundai-Kia took significant advantage of the prolonged automotive crisis by producing affordable yet high quality and well designed vehicles. Rapid globalization has seen state of the art factories being built in several countries including Slovakia, the United States and China. In addition to that, Hyundai offered customers who have lost their jobs to return a new-car purchase for a refund. South Korean automakers therefore had a competitive advantage against expensive luxury vehicles and SUVs from US, Japanese and German automakers.

During the fourth quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of 2009, which was the height of this automotive crisis, the extremely weak South Korean WON, especially against the US dollar and Japanese yen, significantly boosted the price competitiveness of South Korean exports in key markets.

South Korean’s government and Central Bank have taken the measures below in averting recession in the country’s economy:

1.      Interest-rate cuts and government spending. The central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at an all-time low of 2%. The BOK had slashed its base rate by 3.25 percentage points to prop up the $1 trillion economy.

2.      The government has unveiled a series of measures to boost the economy, including a 28.9 trillion won ($21.3 billion) stimulus package.

South Korea 2010 – Economic recovery

Further to economic downturn facing by the country in 2008, two macroeconomic measurements to mitigate the effect of recession both monetary and fiscal policy has been introduced simultaneously by Central Bank and government of South Korea.

For instance, when a central bank cut and kept interest rate unchanged at an all-time low of 2%, its reduces the cost of external financing for nonfinancial sector and increases the demand for such financing. The non financial sector comprises homeowners, construction companies, entrepreneurs, wholesale producer, capital producer and retailers. A greater volume of external funds does not just increases aggregate investment and consumption but also raises the leverage of firm and household balance sheet. This may lead to buildup of systemic vulnerabilities in the economy if, for example, monetary loosening is in the context of an already highly indebted nonfinancial sector. Since the impact of many types of shocks on real activity depends on the degree of leverage in balance sheets, monetary policy could potentially play a role in limiting the system-wide buildup of leverage, and the subsequent evolution of prices and output when shocks hit an economy.

As we may aware interest rates and inflation rates tend to be inversely related, therefore its vital for Central Bank to monitor closely fluctuation of both inflation and interest rates to ensure lower interest rate not trigger increase in inflation rate, in South Korean case, reduce in interest rate has effectively accelerating the economy recovery due to their ability in maintain inflation rate at relatively lower 2.8% in 2009 and 3.0% in 2010.

The economic recovery process has been further enhanced with increase in government spending; the South Korean government has unveiled a series of measures to boost the economy, including a 28.9 trillion won ($ 21.3 billion) stimulus package, that include pursuing policies aimed at adding steady structural adjustment of the economy such as channeling funds into renewable energy resources and negotiating free-trade agreements and business friendly  policies to attract FDI (foreign direct investment) as well as local private investments

South Korea Economic outlook overview 2011 and beyond

According to The Economist Intelligence Unit of South Korea (EIU), the country economic outlook will remain positive and relatively stable for year 2011 till 2015, the research anticipate GDP will rise an estimated 3.8 to 4.1 percent annually throughout the five years forecasting period, the projected growth will be driven by fiscal spending, recovering private consumption, and corporate investment with both International and domestic economic condition being a major factor

International condition

World economic recovery is still on track but there seems little sign of any narrowing gap between developed nation/ advanced countries and newly emerging countries in what has been termed as the two-speed global recovery. In that sense newly emerging countries such as China has maintained its strong growth trend on the basis of domestic demand in line with the large scale of rise in income and consequently rise in domestic consumption compare to USA which show mild economic recovery with both labor and housing market is yet to show any good recovery momentum whilst Euro debt problem facing by certain EU member state are likely to act as a factor for market unrest for considerable time to come. With that kind of two-speed global recovery, world economies are forecasted to growth around 4% in 2011 to 4.5% in 2012.

Domestic Condition

Fiscal spending still remain major economic stimulus to the South Korean Economy, budgetary expenditure for this year has been increased 6% percent compared to 2010, while  for year 2012 there will be a 4% increase to 287 trillion Won. The extend of budgetary surplus during recession and continued during first half of 2011 will be gradually scale back, as government intends to achieved balance budget by 2013 or 2014.

Private Consumption and Corporate Investment

Household purchasing power is forecast to expand due to higher incomes resulting from continued economic upswing. Households are also expected to become more consumption-minded, whilst corporate investments are expected on upward as growth trend are maintained. World and domestic demand for IT products and automotive are expected to increase.

Exports are forecast to continue on their strongly upwards track, boosted by the advanced countries sustained recovery mode and strong growth being registered in newly emerging countries. Others economic indicators in percentage are listed below.

Economic indicator outlook in percentage (2010 – 2012)

Year	2010	2011	2012
GDP	6.1	4.5	4.7
Private Consumption	4.2	4.1	4.3
Corporate investment	22.8	7.9	7.6
Exports	16.1	9.6	12.5
Imports	20.3	10.1	11.1
Unemployment rates	3.7	3.5	3.4
Consumer price inflation	2.9	3.5	3.2
Core inflation	1.8	3.1	3.1

Source: Central Bank of Korea

Challenge

1.      Political Stability

Despite above positive economic outlook indicator, any political instability within may affect forecasted economy. Since independence relations with its northern neighbor remain a major concern, North Korea will always a major treat to South Korea security and stability, particularly over North’s fragile economy and its nuclear ambition. Latest incident happen in November 2010 that involved geopolitical risk following the North Korean attack on Yeonpyeongdo. An uncertainty on whom will be a successor of current President Lee Myung-bak has raise concern on how future direction of South Korea economic policies will be. President Lee who successfully leading the nation economic recovery with his robust and innovative economic policy is set to end his 5 years presidential terms in February 2013.

2.      Uncertainty in export demand

Being dependent on export, the prospect of South Korean economy is depend largely on how world economic condition, the  loss of relative wealth among resident in developed markets around the world which could prevent a strong rebound of export prospects in those market. If demands for South Korea products abroad remain subdued, this could exert downward pressure on relative wealth within the country and consequently dampen domestic demand and economic recovery. According to EIU such scenario could mean South Korea economic trajectory will be less smooth than anticipated.

Conclusion

During the years 2000 to 2007, South Korea has facing household and SMEs deficits due to high of credit issue. Most of the corporations have reluctant to invest domestically, mainly because they are discouraged by the highly regulated labor market. As such, restarting the domestic engines of growth is required through providing a Macroeconomic Spark, Reviving Household Spending, Revitalizing the Small and Medium Enterprises and Unleashing Corporate Investment.

Consequently, during recession (2008-2009), South Korea had experienced the drying up of liquidity and the collapse of global trade, despite having strong macroeconomic fundamentals before the outbreak of the crisis. To overcome the recession, South Korea has implemented the fiscal and monetary policies successfully.

Over the past several decades The Republic of Korea has achieved a remarkably high level of economic growth which allows the country to bounce back from being force to get assistance from International Monetary Fund (IMF) in1998 economic downturn into the ranks of the Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD). Today South Korea is a 13^th. Largest economy in the world.

This analysis has helped us in knowing the economic background of South Korea and how they have overcome the economic crisis. This indirectly shows us that different measures or economic tools were taken by various countries to overcome recession across the world according to suitability of policies and most importantly, each countries’ economic fundamentals.

REFERENCES

1.      http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124053088380050309.html

2.      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korea#Economy

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4.http://data.worldbank.org/country/korea-republi 

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6.                   6.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korea#Economy

7.               7. BurcuAydin, Seung-CheolJeon, Minsu Kim and EnginVolkan, August 2011, IMF Country Report No.11/247, International Monetary fund, Washington DC

8.      BBC News: Country Profile: South Korea

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10.  Choongsoo Kim, 13^th. December 2010, The prospects for the Korean economy in 2011

11.  E. Coggins, January 2010, South Korea political and Economis outlook 2011  and beyond.

12.  Economic Growth , SK, 1960-2000, Francisco Garcia-Blanch Menargues

13.  IMF Country Report No. 05/49

14.  Central bank of Korea online eng.bok.or.kr/

15.  The Central Bank of Korea Annual Report 2010

16.  The Central Bank of Korea Monetary Policy Report September 2010