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By APD writer Alice
The South Korean economy remains sluggish due to slowing exports and weak investment, according to the country’s finance.
"A sluggish trend persists in exports and investment, though overall industrial output is on the rise," the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in its monthly economic assessment report on September 20, a day after the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) cut its growth outlook for the country's economy this year to 2.1 percent.
The report, called the "Green Book," is based on the latest economic indicators of such key factors as output, exports, consumption and corporate investment, which provide clues as to how Asia's fourth-largest economy has been faring in recent months.
South Korea's exports fell 13.6 percent on-year to US$44.2 billion in August, extending their on-year decline for the ninth consecutive month due mainly to the Sino-U.S. trade dispute and a prolonged drop in prices of semiconductors, a key export item for Asia's fourth-largest economy.
Outbound shipments of chips fell 30.7 percent in August from a year earlier, dealing a blow to South Korea as semiconductors account for one-fifth of its exports.
South Korea is home to Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest memory chip maker, and its smaller rival SK hynix Inc.
The government said it will mobilize all policy tools to boost exports and investment amid uncertainties over an ongoing trade conflict between the United States and China and a trade row between South Korea and Japan, as well as drone strikes on Saudi Arabia's crude processing facilities.
Saudi Arabia has been South Korea's top oil supplier. Last year, South Korea imported 323 million barrels of crude from Saudi Arabia, accounting for nearly 30 percent of its total oil imports, according to data from the Korea Petroleum Association.
On September 19, the OECD revised down its growth outlook for South Korea's economy this year to 2.1 percent from its previous forecast of 2.4 percent in May, citing weak global trade and soft import demand in China.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
