Korea to closely monitor economic conditions amid uncertainties

South Korea will closely monitor economic conditions at home and abroad amid heightened uncertainties over the eurozone debt crisis and a possible global slowdown, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.

“Uncertainties remain high as the eurozone fiscal crisis deepens and there is a chance that the global economy could slip into a slowdown,” the ministry said in its monthly report on the latest economic conditions.

“It is necessary (for us) to closely monitor changes in economic conditions at home and abroad and their impact, while beefing up policy efforts for economic recovery and price stability,” it added.

For the domestic economic situation, the ministry assessed that employment and the service sector have continued to recover, but also worried that inflation has stayed high and some indicators were showing signs of losing their upward momentum.

The assessment was based on a series of recently-unveiled economic indicators such as employment, consumer prices, industrial output and exports.

According to the latest government data, the jobless rate stood at 2.9 percent in October, down from 3 percent in the previous month. The economy added 501,000 jobs over the past year, the largest increase in 17 months.

Service-sector output rose 3.5 percent in October from a year earlier. It also expanded 0.7 percent from the previous month.

Prices, however, remained unstable. The country’s consumer price index rose 4.2 percent last month from a year earlier, staying above the government’s annual inflation target of 4 percent.

Meanwhile, the ministry noted that retail sales managed to grow in October from a month earlier, but their growth is expected to slow in November given the latest consumption-related indicators.

The ministry added that it will strengthen its policy efforts to create jobs, boost domestic demand, induce a soft landing for household debt problems in an effort to enhance the nation’s overall economic fundamentals. 

(Yonhap News)