Economic Bulletin | KDI 경제교육·정보센터

KDI 경제교육·정보센터

Economic Information and Education Center

발행물

Economic Trends

The Green Book: Current Economic Trends

Overview Although the economy, affected by plummeting growth in the fourth quarter of 2008, is still in recession, some economic indicators improved slightly in 2009. In February 2009, mining and manufacturing posted a month-on-month increase of 6.8 percent as exports fell at a slower pace, easing a year-on year drop from 25.5 percent in January to 10.3 percent in February. The service output posted a sharper month-on-month increase of 1.2 percent, or 0.1 percent rise year-on-year, the first increase in four months since October 2008. February consumer goods sales posted a year-on year loss of 6.2 percent, but a month-on-month increase of 5.0 percent, both affected by the sales of durable goods including automobiles. Facility investment remained sluggish, but slowed its fall, landing at 21.2 percent. Construction investment saw a year-on-year increase of 12.2 percent in terms of construction completed, thanks to brisk civil engineering works. Exports in March decreased 21.2 percent year-on year, while average daily exports posted a 1.7 percent growth from the previous month. The trade account registered a record high surplus of 4.61 billion won. The total number of workers hired fell by 142,000 year-on-year in February, sending the unemployment rate soaring to 3.9 percent, exacerbating the already-tough Korean job market. Consumer prices rose 3.9 percent in March year-on-year, slowing the pace of inflation from the previous months 4.1 percent, as personal service prices, tuition among others, stabilized. Although the domestic financial market has been relatively stable since March, it is being affected by the conditions of international financial markets, in particular, worries over the US automakers possible bankruptcy. To sum up, the current Korean economy has both positive and negative aspects, which, along with the uncertainties from external conditions, makes it difficult to give an optimistic outlook. Given the external uncertainties, in particular those of the major developed economies as they are forecast to be worse than expected, the global economy as well as the Korean economy need to be closely watched in terms of the real economy. Against this backdrop, the government will step up its efforts for the early passage in the National Assembly and execution of the supplementary budget for job creation and public livelihood stabilization. * For further details, please refer to the attached file.

Apr 2009