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 remain stable and consumption somewhat improve. However, employment growth has been slowing, and some real economic indicators, such as production, investment and exports, have continued to fall. In March, the economy added 249,000 jobs year-on-year, slightly improving from 201,000 in the previous month, when the job market took a hit due to the Lunar New Year holiday. However, employment growth has been poor, staying in the lower 200,000 range for two consecutive months. Consumer price inflation remained stable in the 1.0 percent range in April, falling to 1.2 percent year-on-year from 1.3 percent of the previous month, as agricultural and petroleum product prices fell. Mining and manufacturing production fell 2.6 percent month-on-month in March due to weakness in automobiles and audio-visual communications equipment, while service output decreased by 1.0 percent led by sluggish real estate renting and hotels restaurants. Retail sales increased by 1.4 percent month-on-month in March, as brisk nondurable and semidurable goods sales offset poor durable goods sales. Facility investment in March fell 6.6 percent from the previous month due to a fall in machinery investment, while construction investment declined by 3.0 percent led by poor civil engineering works. Exports inched up by 0.4 percent year-on-year in April despite an increase in days worked, as it was negatively affected by a slowdown in exports to Japan along with exports of steel, automobiles and vessels. The trade balance remained in the black at US$2.58 billion. The cyclical indicator of the coincident composite index declined 0.4 points month-on-month in March, and the leading composite index fell 0.2 points. In April, stock prices fell as risks concerning North Korea remained and there were worries over Korean enterprises business performance taking a hit from the weak yen. The won gained against the dollar due to poor US economic indicators. Housing prices shifted to an increase in April, from a 0.1 percent decline to a 0.2 percent rise, while the upward trend in rental prices accelerated from 0.5 percent to 0.7 percent. The economy grows at a slow pace, with real economic indicators, such as exports and investment, continuing to be sluggish and amid lingering uncertainties from US debt ceiling negotiations, the slow economic recovery in Europe and the weak yen. The Korean government will closely watch the global and domestic economic situations, and reinforce policy responses to stimulate the economy by promoting investment and strengthening support for exports. At the same time, the government will focus on securing the lives of the low- and middle-income classes through job creation and by stabilizing the prices of necessities, while continuing to adopt policies to improve the health of the economy. * For further details, please refer to the attached file

May 2013