Economic Bulletin | KDI 경제교육·정보센터

Economic Trends

Current Economic Trends

In October, services production increased while retail sales,facilitiesinvestment,andconstruction investment decreased. Industrial production remained flat from theprevious month. In November,job growth increased and consumer prices continued to moderate. In October, total production fell (down 0.3% m-o-m and up 2.3% y-o-y), as construction productiondeclined (down 4.0% and down 9.7% y-o-y) while industrial production stayed at the same level from theprevious month (0.0% m-o-m and up 6.3% y-o-y) and services production rose (up 0.3% m-o-m and up1.9% y-o-y). In October, retail sales (down 0.4% m-o-m and down 0.8% y-o-y) and construction investment (down4.0% m-o-m and down 9.7% y-o-y) decreased. Facilities investment adjusted after a sharp increase inthe previous month (down 5.8% m-o-m and up 5.8% y-o-y). In November, exports increased by 1.4 percent from a year ago, driven by stronger exports in thesemiconductor and vessel. In November, the Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI) decreased by 1.0 points to 100.7 month-on-month.The Composite Business Sentiment Index (CBSI) moved down by 0.6 points to 91.5 in November, whilethe CBSI outlook for December fell by 0.1 points to 89.7. In October, the cyclical indicator of the coincident composite index remained unchanged from theprevious month, while the cyclical indicator of the leading composite index fell by 0.1 point. In November, the economy added 123,000 jobs compared to the previous year and the unemploymentrate decreased by 0.1 percentage point from a year ago to 2.2 percent. In November, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) grew by 1.5 percent year-on-year. The index whenexcluding food and energy prices increased by 1.9 percent, and 1.8 percent when excluding agriculturaland petroleum products. The CPI for basic necessities rose by 1.6 percent. In November, Korean equity prices were down and yields for Korean Treasury Bond were also down,while the Korean Won weakened against the dollar. In November, housing prices and Jeonse (lump-sum deposits with no monthly payments) prices rose at aslower rate than the previous month (up 0.01% m-o-m and up 0.09% m-o-m, respectively). While the Korean economy continues to experience stable inflation trends, concerns are growing overincreasing downside risks owing to heightened internal and external uncertainties, such as weakenedeconomic sentiment among households and businesses. While the global economic is broadly on a recovery path, uncertainties are increasing due to persistentgeopolitical risks and potential changes in the trade environment. The Korean government intends to firmly maintain external credibility through close interagencycoordination, with the Ministerial Meeting on Economic Affairs serving as the control tower, while shoringup industrial competitiveness and implementing measures to support livelihood stability. * For further details, please refer to the attached file.

Jan 2025