South Korea's economic activity inched up in October and November, compared with the third quarter on improving exports and marginal increases in consumption and facility investment, the central bank said Wednesday.
Asia's fourth-largest economy has been on a modest recovery track since the fourth quarter of last year and the recovery momentum is seen as being further strengthened, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in the report dubbed the BOK Golden Book.
The BOK released the Korean version of the U.S. Federal Reserve's Beige Book for the first time in late August by monitoring economic activities in seven regional areas.
The report said that overseas shipments are maintaining its improving trend and consumption and capital spending inched up in October and November, but construction investment declined.
The BOK earlier said that the local economy is likely to grow 2.8 percent this year before expanding 3.8 percent next year. In the third quarter, the Korean economy grew 1.1 percent from three months earlier, the fastest gain in more than two years.
The report said that local exporters are concerned about the possibility of the weakening growth momentum in emerging markets.
It also added that the won's recent gains, coupled with the yen's weakness, was picked as a major setback in the price competitiveness and profitability of exporters.
The local currency has risen around 1 percent against the U.S.
dollar so far this year. In the third quarter, the won gained 6.9 percent to the greenback compared with three months earlier. (Yonhap News)
