The Economic Information and Education Center (EIEC) of KDI published the monthly periodical “Republic of Korea Economic Bulletin, August 2021” in English to provide information on Korea’s current economic trends, policy issue and various economic news to foreign countries.

The August publication provides the updated information related to the overall Korea’s economy including 2021 tax revision bill and Korean New Deal 2.0. Main content is as follows:

Economic Bulletin, August 2021

[Current Economic Trends]

01. Economic activity
02. Financial markets
03. Public finance

[Policy Issue]

01. 2021 tax revision bill

[Economic News Briefing]

01. GDP rose 5.9% in Q2 2021
02. Government announces Korean New Deal 2.0
03. Inbound FDI posts US $13.1 billion in H1 2021

Overview

Manufacturing, services, retail sales, facility investment and construction investment slowed in May. Employment continued to improve in June and consumer price growth eased.

Industrial production rose 0.1 percent from the previous month in May due to increased public sector spending. Mining and manufacturing fell (down 0.7%, m-o-m and up 15.6%, y-o-y), as well as services (down 0.2%, m-o-m and up 4.4%, y-o-y). Compared with a year ago, industrial production rose 7.3 percent.

Retail sales (down 1.8%, m-o-m and up 3.1%, y-o-y) and facility investment (down 3.5%, m-o-m and up 11.0%, y-o-y) slowed, as well as construction investment (down 4.1%, m-o-m and down 7.6%, y-o-y).

Exports jumped 39.7 percent year-on-year in June due to strong chips, petrochemicals and other major products. Average daily exports, an indicator calculated according to the days worked, improved 36.8 percent from a year ago (US $1.67 billion, June 2020 >> US $2.28 billion, June 2021).

The consumer sentiment index (CSI) rose 5.1 points in June to 110.3. The business sentiment index (BSI) for the manufacturing sector went up 2 points to 98, and the BSI outlook for July improved 2 points to 99.

The cyclical indicator of the coincident composite index for May rose 0.2 points to 101.4, and the cyclical indicator of the leading composite index increased 0.4 points to 104.1.

The economy added 582,000 jobs year-on-year in June and the unemployment rate fell 0.5 percentage points from a year ago to 3.8 percent.

Consumer prices rose 2.4 percent year-on-year in June as fresh food prices stabilize and the low base effect on oil prices wear off. Core inflation rose 1.5 percent.

Stock prices rose in June on expectations of economic recovery at home and worldwide. The won weakened and Korea Treasury yields went up amid positive outlooks for BOK’s rate hike.

Home prices continued to rise in June (up 0.70% >> up 0.79%, m-o-m), as well as Jeonse (lump-sum deposits with no monthly payments) prices (up 0.36% >> up 0.45%, m-o-m).

The economy, once seeing exports, consumption and employment recover strongly, has faltered due to a fresh resurgence of the virus affecting the real economy.

Recovery is expected to continue in major economies, but there are pressures from inflation worries, as well as from a new wave of infection.

The government will do its utmost to keep the disease under control and strengthen risk management, as well as working to boost consumption, ensure job security and bolster pandemic supports through its second half economic policies and supplementary budget.

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)