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 maintained balanced growth with continued sound exports and improved domestic indicators including consumption. Industrial production recovered double digit growth of 17.8 percent in October from a 0.3 percent increase of the previous month, thanks to the sustained growth of exports and domestic demand and the increased number of days worked as Chuseok holidays shifted to September this year. In the meantime, the growth of service activities also expanded from 3.8 percent to 9.0 percent. Consumer goods sales continued brisk growth in October on the back of expanded durable goods sales growth from 7.1 percent to 21.1 percent, although non-durable goods growth dropped from 10.5 percent to 1.1 percent. Facility investment (estimated) in October rebounded from an 8.3 percent decrease to a 3.3 percent increase as investment in transportation equipment surged 15.1 percent after dropping 22.4 percent in the previous month while the decrease in machinery investment moderated from 6.3 percent to 0.6 percent. November exports surged by 17.5 percent to register 35.95 billion won, reaching a monthly record high of this year, on the back of the robust performance of main export items such as machinery and wireless communication equipment. The current account surplus expanded to US$2.56 billion in October from US$2.3 billion in September as the goods balance surplus sustained and the service balance deficit reduced. Consumer prices edged up by 3.5 percent year-on-year in November, maintaining the 3 percent range growth for two consecutive months as cost factors such as rising oil prices and low yield of agricultural crops were fully reflected in prices. To sum up, the recent Korean economy has maintained its upturn trend in the second half of this year as expected, supported by solid exports and increased domestic demand. Although fluctuation in economic indicators in September and October expanded due to irregularities including the shift of Chuseok holiday, average indicators during the same period excluding such irregularities sustained the recent trend growth. Nonetheless, as downside risks such as rising oil prices, slowing US economy, and the possibility of Chinas additional tightening have heightened, such risk factors need to be thoroughly monitored while the macroeconomic policy is managed in a stable manner to prevent fluctuations in macro variables from expanding. * For further details, please refer to the attached file

Dec 2007