The Economic Information and Education Center (EIEC) of KDI published the monthly periodical “Republic of Korea Economic Bulletin, January 2023” in English to provide information on Korea’s current economic trends, policy issue, various economic news and key economic indicators to foreign countries. 

The January publication provides the updated information related to the overall Korea’s economy including economic policy directions and New Growth Strategy 4.0, ASEAN+3 Finance and Central Bank Deputies’ Meeting, Korea-Vietnam cooperation framework, Korea’s GDP in Q3 2022, Korea-Hungary TIPF, and Korea-Ghana economic partnership. Main content is as follows: 

[Economic Bulletin, January 2023]

[Current Economic Trends] 

1. Economic activity

2. Financial markets

3. Public finance

[Economic News Briefing]

1. Government announces plans for economic policy directions and New Growth Strategy 4.0

2. ASEAN+3 discuss regional economic issues and financial cooperation plans

3. Korea and Vietnam sign cooperation framework

4. Korea grows 0.3% in Q3 2022

5. Korea and Hungary discuss TIPF

6. Korea and Ghana to boost economic ties

Overview

Mining & manufacturing, services and retail sales decreased while facility investment remained steady and construction investment increased in October. Employment and consumer prices rose at a slower pace in November.

Industrial production declined 1.5 percent month-on-month in October as both mining & manufacturing (down 3.5%, m-o-m and down 1.1%, y-o-y) and services (down 0.8%, m-o-m and up 5.0%, y-o-y) decreased.

In October, retail sales (down 0.2%, m-o-m and down 0.7%, y-o-y) went down, facility investment (0.0%, m-o-m and up 16.8%, y-o-y) remained steady and construction investment (up 3.8%, m-o-m and up 8.3%, y-o-y) went up.

Exports fell 14.0 percent year-on-year in November led by a slump in the export of major items such as semiconductor and steel products. Average daily exports decreased 14.0 percent year-on-year to US $2.16 billion in November 2022 from US $2.51 billion in November 2021.

The consumer sentiment index (CSI) declined 2.3 points month-on-month in November to 86.5. The business survey index (BSI) for all industries went down 1 point month-on-month to 75, and the BSI outlook for December 2022 declined 2 points to 74.

The cyclical indicator of the coincident composite index for October remained steady and the cyclical indicator of the leading composite index fell 0.1 points month-on-month.

The economy added 626,000 jobs year-on-year in November and the unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points year-on-year to 2.3 percent.

Consumer prices grew 5.0 percent year-on-year in November due to a sharp decrease in the price of agricultural and animal products. Core prices rose 4.8 percent.

In November, stock prices increased, Korean Treasury yields declined and the won strengthened due to continued market expectations about major economies adjusting the pace of monetary tightening.

Housing prices declined faster in November (down 0.77% → down 1.37%, m-o-m), and prices of Jeonse (lump-sum deposits with no monthly payments) also saw a faster decline (down 0.88% → down 1.55%, m-o-m).

Amid continued high inflation, as the pace of domestic demand recovery gradually slowed and economic sentiment and exports continued to be sluggish, there are concerns about an economic slowdown.

Internationally, market volatility was reduced due to expectations about major economies adjusting the pace of interest rate hikes and China relaxing lockdown measures, but global economic uncertainty continued due to global inflation and the Russia-Ukraine war.

The government will strengthen its efforts to revitalize the private sectors by boosting export and investment and manage risks at home and abroad, and will accelerate efforts to implement economic structural reforms, while also focusing on taming prices and stabilizing people’s livelihoods.

Please click on the Economic Bulletin banner below to see and download the latest full PDF including previous editions.  

Printed publications are available at the Information Desk in KDIS Library (3F) and the Display Table in KDI Central Library (5F).   

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(KDI Economic Bulletin, +82-44-550-4621, hs.hwang@kdi.re.kr)