KDI says local economy is slowing down due to weak expo
Arirang News
2019-03-12
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There are growing concerns about the health of the South Korean economy...with many organizations slashing their respective growth outlooks for 2019.
The Korea Development Institute is pointing to sluggish exports and investment as the key contributing factors to the downgrades.
Ko Roon-hee reports.
For the fifth consecutive month, the Korea Development Institute says the Korean economy is slowing down.
In its economic trends report for March, the state-run think tank says this is mainly due to weak exports and investment.
Exports have been falling on-year since December last year... and the rate of the decrease was more than 11-percent in February.
Recent figures for March aren't looking great either.
Separate data by the Korea Customs Service shows... that exports during the first ten days of the month decreased by almost 20-percent.
The main reason for the downward trend is the drop in semiconductor exports... which are a big part of the nation's overall outbound shipments.
As of last year, semiconductors accounted for around 20-percent of South Korea's total exports on average.
Experts say the semiconductor market is suffering many problems... such as oversupply, lower-than-expected demand from data centers, and falling prices.
Many IT companies have been delaying investment... as part of a 'wait-and-see' approach for semiconductor prices to go down even further.
However, an economic expert says the situation will get better starting from the 2nd half of this year.
"New industries related to the fourth industrial revolution, such as AI, big data and autonomous vehicles are continuously developing. Therefore, semiconductor demand from this field will increase. The problem of prices and demand will improve in the second half of the year."
Other than exports,... the KDI said that investment is also slowing down.
In January, facilities investment dropped by more than 16-percent on year.
On the other hand, there were some positive numbers in production and consumption.
For the month of January, overall industrial production increased by 0-point-6 percent on year... and retail sales rose by 4-percent.
Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News.
The Korea Development Institute is pointing to sluggish exports and investment as the key contributing factors to the downgrades.
Ko Roon-hee reports.
For the fifth consecutive month, the Korea Development Institute says the Korean economy is slowing down.
In its economic trends report for March, the state-run think tank says this is mainly due to weak exports and investment.
Exports have been falling on-year since December last year... and the rate of the decrease was more than 11-percent in February.
Recent figures for March aren't looking great either.
Separate data by the Korea Customs Service shows... that exports during the first ten days of the month decreased by almost 20-percent.
The main reason for the downward trend is the drop in semiconductor exports... which are a big part of the nation's overall outbound shipments.
As of last year, semiconductors accounted for around 20-percent of South Korea's total exports on average.
Experts say the semiconductor market is suffering many problems... such as oversupply, lower-than-expected demand from data centers, and falling prices.
Many IT companies have been delaying investment... as part of a 'wait-and-see' approach for semiconductor prices to go down even further.
However, an economic expert says the situation will get better starting from the 2nd half of this year.
"New industries related to the fourth industrial revolution, such as AI, big data and autonomous vehicles are continuously developing. Therefore, semiconductor demand from this field will increase. The problem of prices and demand will improve in the second half of the year."
Other than exports,... the KDI said that investment is also slowing down.
In January, facilities investment dropped by more than 16-percent on year.
On the other hand, there were some positive numbers in production and consumption.
For the month of January, overall industrial production increased by 0-point-6 percent on year... and retail sales rose by 4-percent.
Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News.
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