Consumer sentiment dips to over 10-year low in March

Amid the snowballing economic fallout of the novel coronavirus, South Korea saw its consumer sentiment aggravate in March, hitting its lowest point in more than a decade, central bank data showed Friday.

The composite consumer sentiment index, or CCSI, stood at 78.4 in March, down 18.5 points on-month and marking the lowest score since March 2009, when the world was reeling under the global financial crisis, according to data from the Bank of Korea.

The corresponding survey was conducted on 2,500 households from March 10 to 17, when the country was facing an escalating number of confirmed cases.

Also, the on-month drop was the largest since the central bank started tallying such data in July 2008. The CCSI previously marked an on-month drop of 12.7 points in October 2008 -- the month following the New York-based Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy.

In light of the pandemic situation and the consequent impact on Asia’s fourth-largest economy, such a downtrend in consumer sentiment is likely to persist for a while.

“Back in the global financial crisis, the CCSI slipped for three months straight from October to December 2008, before rebounding in January of the following year,” an official from the BOK said.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)