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PRESS RELEASES

Current Economic Situation, April 2025

  • DivisionEconomic Policy Bureau - Economic Analysis Division
  • DateApril 11, 2025
  • Tel+82 44 215 2750

In February 2025, industrial and services production, retail sales, facilities and construction investments all increased.

 

The entire industrial production moved up (+0.6% m-o-m, +1.2% y-o-y), as production rose in the industrial (+1.0% m-o-m, +7.0% y-o-y), services (+0.5% m-o-m, +0.8% y-o-y), and construction (+1.5% m-o-m, -21.0% y-o-y) sectors.

 

Retail sales (+1.5% m-o-m, -2.3% y-o-y), facilities investment (+18.7% m-o-m, +7.7% y-o-y) and construction investment (+1.5% m-o-m, -21.0% y-o-y) all climbed up.

 

Exports in March 2025 grew by 3.1% year-on-year (a second consecutive monthly increase). Average daily exports also surged by 5.5% in March compared to the same month of last year.

 

The consumer sentiment index (CSI) in March fell by 1.8 points month-on-month to 93.4. Although the composite business sentiment index (CBSI) increased by 1.4 points to 86.7, the CBSI outlook for April dropped by 2.4 points to 85.6.

 

Both the cyclical indicator of the coincident composite index and the cyclical indicator of the leading composite index for February went up by 0.1 points respectively.

 

In March, the increase in the number of employed persons widened and consumer price growth rose at a faster pace.

 

The number of employed persons grew by 193,000 compared to the same month last year, and the unemployment rate edged up by 3.1% from a year ago.

 

The year-on-year consumer price index (CPI) climbed to 2.1% due to increases in processed food and public service prices, despite a slowdown in price increases of agricultural, livestock, fisheries and petroleum products. The CPI excluding the food and energy sectors rose by 1.9%.

 

In March, stock prices went down, Korean Treasury Bond yields fell and the Korean won weakened.

 

In February, housing prices (-0.06%, m-o-m) and Jeonse[1] prices all moved down (-0.01%, m-o-m).

 

Recently, the Korean economy has faced mounting downward pressure, as the recovery of domestic demand – particularly in consumption and construction investment – remains sluggish, while employment challenges persist in vulnerable sectors. These difficulties have been further compounded by deteriorating external conditions stemming from the imposition of tariffs by the United States.

 

The global economy is facing heightened concerns over increased volatility in global financial markets and a slowdown in trade and growth, primarily due to the worsening trade environment following tariff impositions by major economies.

 

Along with all-out efforts to respond to trade risks – promptly implementing an essential supplementary budget to support Korean companies affected by U.S. tariffs and to strengthen industrial competitiveness – the government is also continuing and reinforcing measures to revitalize the real economy, including support for job creation, construction, and small businesses.



[1] lump-sum deposits with no monthly payments






Key Statistics



Employment


 

2024

                           2025

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Number of employed 
(million)

27.74

28.04

28.40

28.69

28.91

28.91

28.86

28.80

  28.84

28.85

28.82

28.04

27.88

28.18

28.59

Employment 

rate  (%)

61.0

61.6

62.4

63.0

63.5

63.5

63.3

63.2

   63.3

63.3

63.2

61.4

61.0

61.7

62.5

(Seasonally adjusted)

 62.8

 63.0

62.8

62.9

62.6

62.6

62.6

62.7

   62.8

62.7

62.7

62.3

62.9

63.0

63.0




Consumer Price Index

                                                                                         (%)

 

2023

2024

                      2025

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

y-o-y

 3.3

  3.2

 2.8

3.1

3.1

2.9

2.7

2.4

2.6

2.0

1.6

1.3

1.5

1.9

2.2

2.0

2.1

m-o-m

 -0.5

  0.0

0.4

0.5

0.1

0.0

0.1

-0.2

0.3

0.4

0.1

0.0

-0.3

0.4

0.7

0.3

0.2

 




Retail Sales

(Percentage change from the previous period, %)

 

2022

2023

  2024

      2025

Annual

Q1

Q2

Q3 Q4

Annual

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Annual

Q1

Q2

Q3

 Q4

 Jan¹

Feb¹

Retail sales

-0.3

-0.9

-0.7

0.8

-1.5

-1.5

0.6

-0.5

-1.9

0.4

-2.1

-2.2

-0.3

0.7

-0.4

-0.7

1.5

     (y-o-y)

-

2.6

-0.2

-0.9

-2.3

-

-0.8

-0.7

-2.7

-1.9

-

-1.6

-3.1

-1.5

 -2.0

0.0

-2.3

1. Preliminary





Facility Investment Index

(Percentage change from the previous period, %)

 

2022

2023

                                   2024

            2025

Annual

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Annual

Q1

Q2

  Q3

Q4

Annual

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

    Jan¹

   Feb¹

Facility investment index

2.6

2.6

0.8

6.1

1.5

-4.8

-9.0

1.5

-3.8

5.0

3.0

-1.5

-1.4

10.2

-1.8

-15.7

18.7

(y-o-y)

-

-0.9

-3.5

5.9

9.2

-

-1.5

-0.9

-10.5

-5.8

-

-1.4

-3.3

11.5

5.3

-5.1

7.7

1. Preliminary

  



Construction Completed

 (Percentage change from the previous period, %)

 

2022

2023

                                   2024

          2025

Annual

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

  Annual

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

 Annual

  Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

  Jan¹

  Feb¹

Construction Completed

(Constant)

2.6

-0.7

1.7

0.8

5.8

7.8

3.4

-0.4

1.9

-4.2

-4.7

7.7

-8.2

-3.8

-5.1

-4.6

1.5

(y-o-y)

-

-1.9

1.5

3.3

6.5

-

12.0

9.5

10.8

0.8

-

4.0

-3.1

-9.1

-9.7

-27.4

-21.0

1. Preliminary





Exports and Imports

 (US$ billion, y-o-y, %)

 

2023

2024

2025

Annual

Q1

Q2

Q3

       Q4

Annual

      Q1


Q2

      Q3

Q4

      Feb

     Mar

      Mar

Exports

632.23

151.22

155.78

157.10

168.12

683.69

163.30

56.52

171.51

173.65

175.15

52.45

58.28

(y-o-y, %)

-7.5

-12.8

-12.0

-9.7

5.7

8.1

8.0

3.0

10.1

10.5

4.2

0.7

3.1

Average daily exports

2.34

2.24

2.33

2.29

2.49

2.53

2.44

2.51

2.58

2.53

2.56

2.39

2.65

Imports

642.59

174.04

159.25

150.72

158.56

632.10

154.81

52.42

157.04

160.00

159.92

48.30

53.30

(y-o-y, %)

-12.1

-2.2

-13.2

-21.6

-10.7

-1.6

-11.1

-12.6

-1.4

6.2

0.9

0.2

2.3

Average daily imports

2.38

2.58

2.38

2.20

2.35

2.34

2.31

2.33

2.36

2.34

2.33

2.20

2.42





Industrial Production (Mining, Manufacturing, Electricity and Gas Production)

                (Percentage change from the previous period, %)



2022

2023

 2024

         2025

Annual

Annual

  Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Annual¹

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Jan¹

Feb¹

Total Production2

m-o-m,

q-o-q

-

-

0.6

2.8

1.4

1.8

-

-0.8

1.8

-0.5

1.5

-2.8

1.0

y-o-y

1.0

-2.6

-8.2

-6.0

-0.5

4.8

4.1

5.3

5.2

2.4

3.5

-4.7

7.0

Manufacturing

Production

m-o-m,

q-o-q

-

-

0.6

3.0

1.4

1.9

-

-0.8

1.8

-0.8

2.1

-3.0

0.8

y-o-y

1.0

-2.6

-8.5

-6.1

-0.3

5.2

4.2

5.8

5.3

2.2

3.7

-4.7

7.1

Shipments (m-o-m, q-o-q)

0.2

-0.4

0.3

3.0

-1.3

2.0

0.5

-3.0

2.0

-1.4

0.8

-6.6

1.3

Inventory3 (m-o-m, q-o-q)

5.2

-2.7

1.2

0.6

1.5

-5.2

-2.7

-2.1

-0.5

0.1

-0.5

-0.3

-1.2

Production capacity (y-o-y)

0.1

-0.5

-1.4

-1.5

-0.6

1.5

0.9

1.0

0.9

0.4

0.6

0.8

0.7

Average operation ratio4

74.5

72.1

70.9

72.2

72.5

72.7

72.7

72.4

73.4

72.5

72.5

73.5

73.1


  1. Preliminary

  2. Mining, Manufacturing, Electricity and Gas Production

  3. End-point (month, quarter, and year)

  4. Average operation ratio for the month (or quarter)




  

Service Output

           (Percentage change from the previous period, %)

 

2022

2023

                                           2024

         2025

Annual

Q1

Q2

Q3 Q4

Annual

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

 Annual¹

 Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Jan¹

 Feb¹

Service output

7.0

0.6

3.4

1.8

0.1

3.4

0.7

0.5

1.0

0.3

1.0

 0.3

0.0

     -0.3

     0.7

-0.9

  0.5

    1. Preliminary




Composite Indices of Coincident and Leading Indicators

                                                                                           (Points)

 

 2024

           2025

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep 

Oct

Nov

Dec¹

Jan¹

Feb¹

Cyclical indicator of coincident composite index

100.1

100.0

99.7

99.6

99.1

99.0

99.0

99.3

98.9

98.8

98.4

98.5

m-o-m (points)

-0.2

-0.1

-0.3

-0.1

-0.5

-0.1

0.0

0.3

-0.4

-0.1

-0.4

0.1

Cyclical indicator of leading composite index

100.5

100.7

100.8

100.9

100.9

100.8

100.8

100.8

100.8

100.7

100.3

100.4

m-o-m (points)

-0.1

0.2

0.1

0.1

0.0

-0.1

0.0

0.0

0.0

-0.1

-0.4

0.1

1. Preliminary


 




Please refer to the attached files.


Ministry of Economy and Finance
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