Economic Bulletin | KDI 경제교육·정보센터

KDI 경제교육·정보센터

Economic Information and Education Center

발행물

Economic Trends

The Green Book: Current Economic Trends

Overview The Korean economy has seen inflation and employment remain stable with domestic economic readings such as consumption, investment and services slightly improving. However, due to slowing exports, mining and manufacturing production has continued to fall. The labor market has added 470,000 jobs in the year to July evenly across many industries, leading to an improvement in employment indicators such as the employment rate and jobless rate. Despite an increase in the the price of agricultural and petroleum products, consumer prices in August rose just 1.2 percent year-on-year, which is the slowest rate since May 2000 when prices rose 1.1 percent, thanks to stable farm product prices and service fees. Mining and manufacturing production slid 1.6 percent in July month-on-month due to a decrease in semiconductor and automobile production while service output was up 0.7 percent compared to the previous month due to an increase in wholesale retail sales and financial insurance services. In July, retail sales were up 3.4 percent from a month ago, which is the fastest growth since May 2009, when a 4.1 percent growth was registered, due to an increase in durable goods sales as well as semi-durable and non-durable goods sales. Despite a decrease in transportation equipment investment, the facility investment index in July rose 2.5 percent compared to the previous year due to an increase in machinery investment. Construction investment climbed 6.8 percent month-on-month as both building construction and civil engineering works increased. Exports in August decreased 6.2 percent from a year earlier due to the European debt crisis, and imports also fell 9.8 percent. The current account balance was US$2.04 billion. The cyclical indicator of the coincident composite index in July rose 0.2 points from a month ago due to an increase in the domestic shipment index, while the leading composite index rose 0.2 points month-on-month due to an increase in the ratio of the export to import prices. In August, domestic financial markets saw volatility relaxed somewhat as global financial markets stabilized slightly and foreign capital inflows increased amid expectations for stimulus in major countries. Housing prices fell 0.2 percent in August while rent prices were up 0.1 percent from a month ago. As the European crisis has increased concerns over the global economic downturn and falling confidence has added to domestic destabilizing factors, external and domestic uncertainties are mounting. The Korean government will closely monitor the global and domestic economy, while reinforcing policy responses to stimulate the economy by boosting exports and domestic economic conditions. At the same time, the government will focus on stabilizing the lives of low- and middle- income classes through job creation and by stabilizing the prices of necessities, while continuing to carry out policy actions to improve the health of the economy. * For further details, please refer to the attached file

Sep 2012