Korea’s economy shows signs of recovery with partial recovery of exports

The South Korean economy is experiencing a decline in downward pressure on the back of improving exports, although the government still faces the ongoing economic slowdown, the Ministry of Finance said.
The Ministry of economy and Finance said in a report yesterday that the downward economic pressures are easing against the background of a partial recovery of stagnant exports, improved domestic consumption, improved economic morale, and strong employment.
However, the ministry pointed to the economic slowdown in the monthly assessment report called the Green Book, for the sixth month in a row, according to the Korean news agency “Yonhap”.
She added that the South Korean economy is currently facing a slowdown driven by the manufacturing sector, although there are increasing signs that inflation is also falling.
In June, Korea recorded a trade surplus for the first time in 16 months, but exports fell for the ninth month in a row due to weak demand for semiconductors.
Exports fell by 6 percent year-on-year to USD 54.24 billion last month, marking the smallest year-on-year decline so far this year, which may indicate that exports may rebound in the second half of this year.
The rise in South Korea’s Consumer Price Index also slowed for the fifth consecutive month in June, with the percentage of increase falling below 3 percent for the first time in 21 months at 2.7 percent.
Additional jobs in the country remained stronger than expected in June as well, with South Korea adding 333 thousand jobs from the previous year, although older people were mostly the reason for the rise.