South Korea's industrial output grew in April for the first time in four months amid still lingering economic uncertainties, a government report showed Thursday.
According to the report by Statistics Korea, production in the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries increased 0.8 percent last month from a month earlier. From a year ago, it grew 1.7 percent, bouncing back from two consecutive months of contractions.
The output in the service sector also grew 0.2 percent on-month in April. It also gained 2.6 percent compared with a year earlier, the report showed.
"The April industrial output rose 0.8 percent on-month as production in the mining and manufacturing sectors logged gains, while electricity, gas and other areas contracted," the report said.
The latest production figures come amid concerns that the country's economy might be losing traction in the face of toughened market conditions at home and abroad, with many think tanks revising down their growth outlooks for this year.
Earlier, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) lowered its growth estimate for South Korea from 3.1 percent to 2.6 percent, citing such risks as possibly slowing exports growth and currency exchange rate swings.
The revision comes in the wake of similar actions by other organizations. The state-run think tank Korea Development Institute cut its growth projection from 3 percent to 2.6 percent, which is lower than the 2.3 percent that the government forecast for Asia's fourth-largest economy.
Earlier this month, the central bank slashed its key interest rate for the first time in seven months in consideration of the latest economic situations.
Ahead of that, the National Assembly approved a 17.3 trillion won (US$15.3 billion) extra budget weeks after the government drafted the proposal to jump-start the slowing economy.
The data showed that the manufacturing sector's output led the overall bounce back in April production by increasing 0.7 percent in April from a month earlier. It also expanded 1.8 percent from a month earlier.
The average facility operating ratio in the manufacturing sector also improved to 75.9 percent in April, up 0.4 percentage point from March.
Private-sector spending and corporate investment, however, remained weak.
The report showed that retail sales shrank 0.5 percent on-month in April. Facility investment also dropped 4 percent on-month, and it plunged 12.4 percent compared with the same month a year earlier. (Yonhap News)
