Economic Bulletin | KDI 경제교육·정보센터

KDI 경제교육·정보센터

Economic Information and Education Center

발행물

Economic Trends

The Green Book: Current Economic Trends

Overview Although inflation remains low, the Korean economy has seen major indicators, such as mining and manufacturing production, retail sales and facility investment, gradually improve and employment continue to rise by more than 400,000 jobs. The economy continued to add jobs in November, adding 438,000 jobs year-on-year, as regular workers continued to increase. Consumer price inflation remained low in December, falling from a 1.0 percent rise to a 0.8 percent rise compared to a year ago, in line with a continuous fall in international oil prices. Mining and manufacturing production turned positive in November, increasing 1.3 percent month-on-month, as weak chemical products and primary metals were offset by strong automobiles and semiconductors parts. Service output decreased somewhat in November from a 0.8 percent rise to a 0.3 percent fall due to a high base effect as the index had improved for three months in a row. Retail sales turned positive from a 0.1 percent fall to a 1.9 percent rise, compared to the previous month, backed by strong automobiles and communication devices sales. Facility investment soared month-on-month in November from a 4.5 percent fall to a 13.1 percent rise as both machinery investment and transportation equipment investment increased. Construction completed dropped month-on-month from a 0.4 percent increase to a 1.7 percent fall. The composite index of coincident indicators declined 0.2 points in November, and the composite index of leading indicators fell 0.1 points. Exports increased 3.7 percent year-on-year in December, rebounding from a 2.1 percent fall the previous month, led by mobile phones, semiconductors parts and steel. The trade balance remained in the black in December, posting a surplus of US $5.78 billion. In December, market interest rates rose while the KOSPI fell as foreign investors sold more shares than bought. Both the dollar-won ratio and the 100 yen-won ratio fell slightly compared to the previous month. Both housing prices and Jeonse (lump-sum deposits with no monthly payments) prices continued to increase in December, rising 0.1 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively. The recovery in domestic consumption has not yet fully taken root, and the external uncertainties, such as the US rate hike, yen depreciation and high economic anxiety in oil producing countries warrant close attention. The Korean government will continue to closely monitor internal and external economic trends, and at the same time will prepare the Korean economy for any potential risks and work to protect domestic markets from external shocks. The government will continue to implement the Three-year Plan for Economic Innovation and 2015s economic policies in order to restructure and revitalize the economy by boosting domestic consumption. * For further details, please refer to the attached file

Jan 2015