Korean government remains concerned about economic slowdown

[Photo by Yonhap]

The South Korean government continued to express its concerns about an economic slowdown for seven straight months in its latest monthly economic assessment report, published on Friday, citing sluggish exports and delayed recovery in domestic demand on inflationary pressure.

The country’s consumer prices climbed 5.0 percent on year last month, moderately down from a 5.7 percent jump in the previous month, but remained above the 5 percent range for seven months since May.

In November, South Korea’s outbound shipments fell 14.0 percent on year after a 5.7 percent fall in October, which was the first decline in two years.

The government’s view is gradually getting darker, from ‘concern over constraints on export recovery’ to ‘weakening export recovery’ to ‘sluggish exports’.

There is also a delay in the recovery of domestic demand. Service industry production in October fell 0.8 percent from the previous month, the second consecutive month of decline. Retail sales backpedaled by 0.2 percent for the second month in a row.

The report showed credit card spending and sales at department stores grew in November, but their pace of growth slowed.

The consumer sentiment index (CSI) for November was 86.5, down by 2.3 points from the previous month, and the business survey index (BSI) for all industries was 75, down by 1 point from the previous month.