SEOUL, June 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korean financiers saw a possible COVID-19 resurgence and a delayed vaccination campaign as the country's biggest financial risk, central bank report showed Friday.
According to the Bank of Korea (BOK) survey conducted from May 10 to May 25, the local financiers selected the COVID-19 resurgence and the postponed vaccination as the biggest financial risk.
In the latest tally, the country reported 556 more cases of COVID-19 for the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 146,859. The daily caseload stayed in triple digits since November last year.
Since the mass vaccination was launched on Feb. 26, the number of people who received COVID-19 vaccines topped 10 million, or about 20 percent of the country's total population. The government aimed to form a herd immunity no later than November.
The financiers picked global inflation and massive household debts as major financial risks faced with the economy.
The U.S. consumer price index (CPI) advanced 5.0 percent in May from a year earlier, beating market expectations of about 4.7 percent.
The South Korean CPI gained 2.6 percent in May on a yearly basis, marking the fastest increase in over nine years since April 2012.
The country's household debts kept a record-breaking trend amid the record-low interest rate. The BOK has left its key rate unchanged at an all-time low of 0.50 percent since May last year. Enditem