Economic Bulletin, January 2025

Current Economic Trends

Overview

In October, services production increased while retail sales, facilities investment, and construction investment decreased. Industrial production remained flat from the previous 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 production declined (down 4.0% and down 9.7% y-o-y) while industrial production stayed at the same level from the previous month (0.0% m-o-m and up 6.3% y-o-y) and services production rose (up 0.3% m-o-m and up 1.9% y-o-y).

In October, retail sales (down 0.4% m-o-m and down 0.8% y-o-y) and construction investment (down 4.0% m-o-m and down 9.7% y-o-y) decreased. Facilities investment adjusted after a sharp increase in the 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 the semiconductor 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, while the 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 the previous 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 unemployment rate 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 when excluding food and energy prices increased by 1.9 percent, and 1.8 percent when excluding agricultural and 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 a slower 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 over increasing downside risks owing to heightened internal and external uncertainties, such as weakened economic sentiment among households and businesses.

While the global economic is broadly on a recovery path, uncertainties are increasing due to persistent geopolitical risks and potential changes in the trade environment.

The Korean government intends to firmly maintain external credibility through close interagency coordination, with the Ministerial Meeting on Economic Affairs serving as the control tower, while shoring up industrial competitiveness and implementing measures to support livelihood stability.

Economic News Briefing

- Korea’s GDP in Q3 2024

- Korea’s interest rate cut

- Korean OFDI in Q3 2024

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