Economic Bulletin | KDI 경제교육·정보센터

KDI 경제교육·정보센터

Economic Information and Education Center

Economic Trends

The Green Book: Current Economic Trends

Overview Consumption and services improved in May. Mining and manufacturing slowed down, along with facilities investment and construction investment. Employment continued to rise in June and consumer prices stayed stable. Industrial production fell 0.5 percent in May due to weak mining and manufacturing (up 1.9% down 1.7%, m-o-m). Service output (up 0.4% up 0.1%, m-o-m) improved somewhat. Retail sales (down 1.2% up 0.9%, m-o-m) rose in May. However, facilities investment (up 4.6% down 8.2%, m-o-m) slowed down, and construction investment (down 2.1% down 0.3%, m-o-m) continued to fall. Exports declined 13.5 percent year-on-year in June, falling for a seventh consecutive month, due to low semiconductor prices and weak global demand. Consumer confidence edged down 0.4 points to 97.5 in June, and the business sentiment index (BSI) fell 1 point to 75, the BIS outlook for July staying at 75. The cyclical indicator of the coincident composite index improved 0.2 points in May to 98.6, and the cyclical indicator of the leading composite index fell 0.2 points to 98.1. The economy added 281,000 jobs year-on-year in June as service jobs continued to grow. The unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 4.0 percent. Consumer prices continued to be stable in June, rising 0.7 percent year-onyear, backed by the low prices of services and oil products. In June KOSPI rose, the won strengthened and Korea treasury yields went down. Housing prices continued to decline in June (down 0.13%, m-o-m), along with Jeonse (lump-sum deposits with no monthly payments) prices (down 0.21%, m-o-m). Housing transactions continued to fall. Global economic situations surrounding the Korean economy have been worsening as uncertainties linger with regard to the US-China trade conflict and the semiconductor demand remains weak amid slowing global economies. While domestic consumption has been improving, exports and investment have yet to pick up. The government will be prepared for external risks, including Japans trade curbs, get ready for the spending of the supplementary budget as soon as it is approved by the National Assembly, and work to successfully implement the 2019 economic policies for the second half, which focus on promoting investment, exports and consumption to boost the economy. * For further details, please refer to the attached file

Jul 2019