201506

ISSN 2287-7266

ECONOMIC BULLETIN (Republic of Korea)

Republic of Korea

June 2015

conomic u l l e t i n

Vol.37 No.6 June 2015

The Green Book: Current Economic Trends Featured Issue

Deputy Prime Minister Choi in London, Seeking Financial Market Innovation

Policy Issue

ECONOMIC BULLETIN

(Republic of Korea)

Economic Policies for the Second Half of 2015

For free subscriptions and enquiries, please contact:

Economic News Briefing

BOK Cuts Key Rate to 1.50% Labor Market Reform Plan Announced Korea Ranks 25th in IMD Competitiveness Rankings Korea Grows 0.8% in Q1

International Media Relations Division Ministry of Strategy and Finance Government Complex, 477 Galmae-ro

June 2015

Sejong, 339-012

Statistical Appendices

Republic of Korea Tel. +82 2 731 1530 Fax. +82 2 731 1540 E-mail. fppr@mosf.go.kr Website. http://english.mosf.go.kr Economic Information and Education Center Korea Development Institute 263 Namsejong-ro Sejong, 339-007 Republic of Korea Fax. +82 44 550 4941 E-mail. jiyounlee@kdi.re.kr Website. http://eiec.kdi.re.kr

MOSF / KDI

Tel. +82 44 550 4645

Vol.37 No.6

02 The Green Book: Current Economic Trends Overview

03

01. External economic situation

04

02. Private consumption

08

03. Facility investment

10

04. Construction investment

12

05. Exports and imports

14

06. Mining and manufacturing production

17

07. Service sector activity

19

08. Employment

21

09. Financial markets

25

9.1 Stock market

25

9.2 Exchange rate

25

9.3 Bond market

26

9.4 Money supply & money market

27

10. Balance of payments

28

11. Prices

31

11.1 Consumer prices

31

11.2 International oil and commodity prices

32

12. Real estate market 12.1 Housing market

35

12.2 Land market

37

13. Composite indices of business cycle indicators

contents Editor in Chief Kim Joo-Hoon (KDI) An Il-Whan (MOSF) Editorial Board Park Joon-Kyu (MOSF) Lee Yong-Soo (KDI) Lee Jae-Yeal (KDI) Coordinators Kim Dae-Hyun (MOSF) Lee Ji-Youn (KDI) Editors Jeon Aram (MOSF) Kim Hanul (MOSF)

35

39

Vol.37 No.6 / june 2015

41 Featured Issue Deputy Prime Minister Choi in London, seeking Financial Market Innovation

44 Policy Issue Economic Policies for the Second Half of 2015

49 Economic News Briefing BOK Cuts Key Rate to 1.50% Labor Market Reform Plan Announced Korea Ranks 25th in IMD Competitiveness Rankings OECD Projects Growth Rate of 3.0% for Korea Korea, China Officially Sign FTA 2015 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting 7th Round Electricity Supply Plan Focuses on Stable Supply and Clean Energy Korea Grows 0.8% in Q1

53 Statistical Appendices

02

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

Overview

01. External economic situation

02. Private consumption 03. Facility investment 04. Construction investment 05. Exports and imports 06. Mining and manufacturing production 07. Service sector activity 08. Employment 09. Financial markets 10. Balance of payments 11. Prices 12. Real estate market 13. Composite indices of business cycle indicators

The Green Book: Current Economic Trends

03

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

OVERVIEW The Korean economy has seen domestic demand improve led by consumption while inflation remains low due to low oil prices. However, production and investment are faltering amid sluggish exports and employment grew at a slower rate.

The economy continued to add jobs in April but at a slower rate, adding only 216,000 compared with 338,000 in the previous month. Employment plummeted in agriculture, forestry and fisheries due to bad weather, decreasing by 135,000 compared with a year ago.

remained unchanged in April compared with the previous month.

Exports continued to decline year-on-year in May, falling 10.9 percent from a year ago, due to low international oil prices and fewer days worked. The trade balance posted a surplus of US $6.32 billion.

In May, both the KOSPI and market interest rates declined. The Korean won depreciated against the US dollar compared with the previous month, but continued to strengthen against the Japanese yen.

Consumer price inflation remained low in May, rising 0.5 percent year-on-year, partly due to a public gas price cut amid low oil prices, while core inflation, which excludes oil and agricultural products and is more related to demand, rose 2.1 percent, staying in the 2 percent range.

Both housing prices and Jeonse (lump-sum deposits with no monthly payments) prices continued to increase month-on-month in May, rising 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, while housing sales surged year-on-year by 40.5 percent to 105,000 transactions.

Mining and manufacturing production, despite strong semiconductors, automobiles and communications equipment, fell 1.2 percent month-on-month in April due to regular maintenance in oil refineries and chemical production facilities as well as the delivery of large offshore plants in the previous month.

Although domestic demand has been picking up, uncertainties remain as the Japanese yen continues to be weak and the global economic recovery has yet to fully take root. The MERS outbreak is also fueling economic uncertainty.

Service output rose 0.5 percent in April led by wholesale & retail, real estate & renting and financial & insurance services. Retail sales improved 1.6 percent as durable, semi-durable and nondurable goods all increased.

Facility investment in April fell 0.8 percent monthon-month, while construction completed dropped 2.6 percent as both building construction and civil engineering works, which had been strong early in 2015, declined for the second consecutive month.

Both the composite index of coincident indicators and the composite index of leading indicators

The government will undertake all-out measures to curb the spread of MERS, while closely monitoring consumption and services to properly respond to any negative impacts caused by the MERS outbreak.

The Korean government will continue to closely monitor internal and external economic developments, and at the same time will further improve the Korean economy’s resilience against external shocks.

The government will continue to implement the Three-year Plan for Economic Innovation and 2015’s economic policies in order to revitalize the economy and pursue structural reform.

04

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

1. External economic situation The US economy continues to falter, while the eurozone economy has been improving due to the ECB’s quantitative easing program and a weak euro.

Uncertainties in the global economy remain including continuously weak consumption in Japan and worries over the Chinese financial market overheating.

World GDP growth 7.0

(%)

6.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

US GDP growth in the first quarter of 2015 was revised down to a 0.7 percent fall (preliminary, annualized quarter-on-quarter) from the advanced estimate of 0.2 percent growth due to severe cold weather, a strong dollar and labor disputes at west coast ports.

Industrial production in April fell for the fifth consecutive month since last December due to the weak energy sector amid low oil prices. The ISM manufacturing index improved in May, which led to expectations for an economic recovery in the second quarter.

ISM Manufacturing Index (base=50) 56.1 (Sep 2014) → 57.9 (Oct) → 57.6 (Nov) → 55.1 (Dec) → 53.5 (Jan 2015) → 52.9 (Feb) → 51.5 (Mar) → 51.5 (Apr) → 52.8 (May)

Retail sales in April remained at a similar level as that of the previous month, and consumer sentiment shrank as the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index fell to its lowest level in six months.

University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (1966=100) 84.6 (Sep 2014) → 86.9 (Oct) → 88.8 (Nov) → 93.6 (Dec) → 98.1 (Jan 2015) → 95.4 (Feb) → 93.0 (Mar) → 95.9 (Apr) → 90.7 (May) Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index (1985=100) 89.0 (Sep 2014) → 94.1 (Oct) → 91.0 (Nov) → 93.1 (Dec) → 103.8 (Jan 2015) → 98.8 (Feb) → 101.3 (Mar) → 95.2 (Apr) → 95.4 (May)

05

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

US GDP growth and industrial production 10

Sources: US Department of Commerce, Federal Reserve Board

(%)

8 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 -8 -10 2004.Q1

2005.Q1

2006.Q1

2007.Q1

2008.Q1

2009.Q1

2010.Q1

2011.Q1

2012.Q1

2013.Q1

GDP (q-o-q, annualized rate)

2014.Q1

2015.Q1

Industrial production (q-o-q)

Housing prices rose 5 percent month-on-month in March, and existing home sales in April declined by 3.3 percent, falling considerably short of market expectations (0.6%), due to rising prices and a high base effect from the previous month.

Case-Shiller Home Price Index (y-o-y, %) 5.6 (Aug 2014) → 4.8 (Sep) → 4.4 (Oct) → 4.3 (Nov) → 4.4 (Dec) → 4.5 (Jan 2015) → 5.0 (Feb) → 5.0 (Mar) Existing home sales (m-o-m, %) 1.2 (Jul 2014) → -1.4 (Aug) → 2.0 (Sep) → 1.2 (Oct) → -4.1 (Nov) → 2.4 (Dec) → -4.9 (Jan 2015) → 1.5 (Feb) → 6.5 (Mar) → -3.3 (Apr)

The labor market witnessed nonfarm payrolls surge by 223,000 in April, showing a huge improvement compared with 119,000 in the previous month, while the unemployment rate was the lowest since May 2008 standing at 5.4 percent.

Nonfarm payroll increase (m-o-m, thousands) 250 (Sep 2014) → 221 (Oct) → 423 (Nov) → 329 (Dec) → 201 (Jan 2015) → 266 (Feb) → 119 (Mar) → 221 (Apr) (Percentage change from previous period)

Real GDP1 - Personal consumption expenditure - Nonresidential fixed investment - Residential fixed investment Industrial production Retail sales Existing home sales Unemployment rate² Consumer prices (y-o-y) 1. Annualized rate (%) 2. Seasonally adjusted Sources: US Department of Commerce, Bloomberg

2012 Annual 2.3 1.8 7.2 13.5 3.8 4.9 8.9 8.1 2.1

2013 Annual Q3 2.2 4.5 2.4 2.0 3.0 5.5 11.9 11.2 2.9 0.6 3.9 0.8 9.0 2.7 7.4 7.2 1.5 1.5

Q4 Annual Q1 3.5 2.4 -2.1 3.7 2.5 1.2 10.4 6.3 1.6 -8.5 2.5 -5.3 1.2 4.2 1.0 0.7 3.9 0.6 -6.3 -3.0 -5.1 7.0 6.2 6.6 1.2 1.6 1.4

2014 Q2 4.6 2.5 9.7 8.8 1.4 2.4 4.5 6.2 2.1

Q3 5.0 3.2 8.9 3.2 1.0 0.7 3.5 6.1 1.8

Q4 2.2 4.4 4.7 3.8 1.1 0.5 0.1 5.7 1.2

2015 Q1 Feb Mar Apr -0.7 1.8 -2.8 5.0 -0.2 -0.1 -0.3 -0.3 -1.2 -0.5 1.1 0.0 -1.7 1.5 6.5 -3.3 5.6 5.5 5.5 5.4 -0.1 0.0 -0.1 -0.2

06

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

US nonfarm payroll growth and unemployment rate Source: US Department of Labor 12

800 600

(thousands)

(%) 10

400 8

200 0

6

-200 4

-400 -600

2

-800 -1,000

0

2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

US nonfarm payroll growth (m-o-m, left)

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

Unemployment rate (right)

China The Chinese economy grew 7.0 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2015, a slowdown from 7.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014. Industrial production improved slightly in April while investment and exports continued to be weak.

The OECD recently lowered its growth forecast for the Chinese economy from 7.1 percent to 6.8 percent, but it was optimistic about a ‘soft landing,’ based on its assessment that Chinese policymakers are capable of making an ‘orderly adjustment towards a new normal rate of growth (June 3, OECD Economic Outlook).’

Manufacturing PMI (base=50) 51.1 (Sep 2014) → 50.8 (Oct) → 50.3 (Nov) → 50.1 (Dec) → 49.8 (Jan 2015) → 49.9 (Feb) → 50.1 (Mar) → 50.1 (Apr) → 50.2 (May)

China’s GDP growth and fixed asset investment 18

Source: China National Bureau of Statistics

(%)

(%)

70

16

60

14

50

12

40

10

30

8

20

6

10

4

0

2004.Q1

2005.Q1

GDP (y-o-y, left)

2006.Q1

2007.Q1

2008.Q1

2009.Q1

2010.Q1

2011.Q1

2012.Q1

2013.Q1

2014.Q1

2015.Q1

Fixed asset investment (accumulated, y-o-y, right)

07

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

(Percentage change from same period in previous year)

Real GDP Industrial production Fixed asset investment (accumulated) Retail sales Exports Consumer prices1 Producer prices1

2012 2013 Annual Annual Q4 7.7 7.7 7.7 10.0 9.7 10.0 20.6 19.6 19.6 14.3 13.1 13.5 8.3 8.6 7.5 2.6 2.6 2.9 -1.7 -1.9 -1.4

Q1 7.4 8.7 17.6 12.0 -3.5 2.3 -2.0

Q2 7.5 8.9 17.3 12.3 5.0 2.2 -1.5

2014 Q3 7.3 8.0 16.1 11.9 13.0 2.0 -1.3

Q4 7.3 7.6 15.7 11.7 8.6 1.5 -2.7

Dec 7.9 15.7 12.0 9.7 1.5 -3.3

Q1 7.0 6.4 13.5 10.6 4.7 1.2 -4.6

2015 Mar 5.6 13.5 10.2 -15.0 1.4 -4.6

Apr 5.9 12.0 10.0 -6.4 1.5 -4.6

1. Quarterly change: average of monthly change Source: China National Bureau of Statistics

Japan The Japanese economy showed a good pace of recovery with GDP growing by 1.0 percent quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter of 2015.

Consumer prices in April grew 0.6 percent year-on-year (0.3% excluding fresh food), a slightly accelerated increase when taking into account a low base effect in the previous month from March 2014. The Japanese government raised the consumption tax on April 1, 2014 in order to achieve an inflation target of more than 2.0 percent.

(Percentage change from previous period)

Real GDP Industrial production Retail sales Exports (y-o-y) Consumer prices (y-o-y)

2012 2013 Annual Annual Q4 1.8 1.6 -0.3 0.2 -0.6 1.8 1.5 1.2 1.4 -2.7 9.5 17.4 -0.0 0.4 1.4

Annual -0.1 2.1 1.7 4.8 2.7

Q1 1.2 2.3 3.8 6.6 1.5

2014 Q2 -1.8 -3.1 -7.2 0.1 3.6

Q3 -0.5 -1.3 3.9 3.2 3.3

Q4 0.3 0.8 1.0 9.1 2.6

Q1 1.0 1.6 -2.1 9.0 2.3

2015 Feb Mar -3.1 -0.8 0.7 -1.8 2.5 8.5 2.2 2.3

Apr 1.0 0.4 8.0 0.6

Sources: Japan's Cabinet Office, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ministry of Finance, Statistics Bureau of Japan

Japan’s GDP growth and industrial production 6

Source: Japan's Cabinet Office, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

(%)

(%)

4

25 20 15 10

2

5 0

0

-5 -2

-10 -15

-4

-20 -6

-25

2004.Q1

2005.Q1

GDP (q-o-q, left)

2006.Q1

2007.Q1

2008.Q1

2009.Q1

2010.Q1

2011.Q1

2012.Q1

2013.Q1

2014.Q1

2015.Q1

Industrial production (q-o-q, right)

08

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

Eurozone The Eurozone economy showed signs of recovery as retail sales increased due to the ECB’s quantitative easing program and a weak euro, but risks remain including worries over a Greek default.

Manufacturing PMI (base=50) 50.3 (Sep 2014) → 50.6 (Oct) → 50.1 (Nov) → 50.6 (Dec) → 51.0 (Jan 2015) → 51.0 (Feb) → 52.2 (Mar) → 52.0 (Apr) → 52.2 (May) (Percentage change from previous period)

Real GDP Industrial production Retail sales Exports (y-o-y) Consumer prices (y-o-y)

2012 2013 Annual Annual Q3 Q4 Annual Q1 -0.7 -0.4 0.2 0.2 0.9 0.3 -2.4 -0.7 0.0 0.6 0.8 0.1 -1.7 -0.8 0.6 -0.4 1.3 0.6 7.7 1.1 0.3 1.0 2.3 1.0 2.5 1.4 1.3 0.8 0.4 0.7

2014 Q2 Q3 0.1 0.2 0.0 -0.1 0.5 0.2 0.6 2.9 0.6 0.4

Q4 0.3 0.5 0.8 4.4 0.2

Q1 0.4 0.9 0.7 5.1 -0.3

2015 Feb Mar 1.0 -0.3 0.1 -0.6 4.3 10.9 -0.3 -0.1

Jan -0.1 0.3 -0.6 -0.6

Apr 0.8 0.0

Sources: Eurostat, Bloomberg

Eurozone’s GDP growth and industrial production 3

Source: Eurostat

(%)

10

(%)

8

2

6 4

1

2 0

0

-2 -1

-4 -6

-2

-8 -10

-3 2004.Q1

2005.Q1

2006.Q1

2007.Q1

2008.Q1

2009.Q1

2010.Q1

2011.Q1

2012.Q1

GDP (q-o-q, left)

2013.Q1

2014.Q1

2015.Q1

Industrial production (q-o-q, right)

2. Private consumption Private consumption in the first quarter of 2015 rose 0.6 percent (preliminary GDP) compared to the previous quarter and 1.5 percent compared to a year ago.

(Percentage change from previous period)

Private consumption² (y-o-y)

2012 Annual Annual Q1 1.9 1.9 -0.1 1.6

1. Preliminary 2. National accounts Source: The Bank of Korea

2013 Q2 0.5 1.9

Q3 1.1 1.9

Q4 0.6 2.2

Annual 1.8 -

Q1 0.4 2.6

2014 Q2 -0.4 1.7

Q3 0.8 1.5

Q41 0.5 1.4

2015 Q11 0.6 1.5

09

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

Retail sales in April rose 1.6 percent month-on-month and 4.9 percent year-on-year as durable goods (up 0.5%), such as household appliances, semi-durable goods (up 3.3%) such as clothing, and nondurable goods (up 1.5%), such as groceries, all increased.

Private consumption 12

Source: The Bank of Korea (national accounts)

(%)

10 8 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6

2004.Q1

2005.Q1

2006.Q1

2007.Q1

2008.Q1

2009.Q1

2010.Q1

2011.Q1

2012.Q1

2013.Q1

Private consumption (q-o-q)

Retail sales 20

2014.Q1

2015.Q1

Private consumption (y-o-y)

Source: Statistics Korea (industrial activity trends)

(%)

15

10

5

0

-5 -10 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

Retail sales (m-o-m)

2015.1

Retail sales (y-o-y)

(Percentage change from previous period)

Retail sales (y-o-y) - Durable goods² · Automobiles - Semi-durable goods³ - Nondurable goods4

2012 2013 Annual Annual Q3 0.8 2.5 0.7 0.5 5.4 0.3 -0.3 2.4 2.1 2.1 -0.3 2.1 0.7 2.2 0.4 1.5

Q4 0.4 1.1 0.2 -2.1 -0.4 0.8

Annual 1.7 5.1 16.6 -0.6 0.8

Q1 0.2 2.4 3.8 9.8 -1.4 -0.9

2014 Q2 -0.2 0.8 -0.2 5.3 -1.1 0.2

Q3 1.3 1.5 1.8 1.2 4.8 -0.7

1. Preliminary 2. Durable goods: Automobiles, electronic appliances, furniture, telecommunications devices, etc.

3. Semi-durable goods: Clothing, footwear, etc. 4. Nondurable goods: Food, medicine, cosmetics, fuel, tobacco, etc.

Source: Statistics Korea

Q4 0.4 1.9 1.3 6.3 -1.8 1.0

Q11 0.5 1.6 5.2 3.9 -3.5 -0.6

2015 Mar¹ -0.5 2.7 1.7 1.0 -0.3 -1.9

Apr¹ 1.6 4.9 0.5 -1.4 3.3 1.5

10

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

Retail sales by type 50

Source: Statistics Korea (industrial activity trends)

(y-o-y, %)

40 30 20 10 0 -10 -20 -30 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

Durable goods

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

Nondurable goods

Semi-durable goods

Retail sales are likely to improve in May, as sales in department stores and large discount stores improved while credit card use continued to increase. Domestic sales of cars fell slightly year-on-year. (y-o-y, %)

Oct 7.5 -2.2 -0.9 1.4 2.1

Credit card use Department store sales Large discount store sales Domestic sales of gasoline Domestic sales of cars

2014 Nov 5.3 -6.5 -4.7 -1.0 7.0

Dec 8.7 -0.9 -3.8 -0.4 27.2

Jan 3.1 -11.0 -18.3 7.3 3.9

2015 Mar 5.7 -5.7 -6.5 8.6 5.5

Feb 10.0 6.6 24.5 12.1 -3.8

Apr 15.3 1.5 -0.2 8.7 2.8

May 7.1 3.6 0.3 -2.2 -0.2

Sources: Credit Finance Association of Korea, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Korea National Oil Corporation, Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association

3. Facility investment Facility investment (preliminary GDP) rose 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter and 5.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2015.

(Percentage change from previous quarter)

Facility investment² (y-o-y) - Machinery - Transportation equipment

2012 Annual 0.1 0.3 -0.4

1. Preliminary 2. National accounts Source: The Bank of Korea

Annual -0.8 -2.3 3.1

2013 Q3 3.5 2.3 6.3 -3.5

Q4 4.2 11.6 2.3 9.1

Annual 5.8 5.0 7.7

Q1 -1.4 7.2 -3.4 3.7

2014 Q2 1.3 7.7 0.4 3.6

Q3 0.2 4.2 2.0 -3.8

Q4 4.0 4.2 5.6 0.4

2015 Q1š 0.2 5.8 -0.7 2.4

11

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

Facility investment 40

Source: The Bank of Korea (national accounts)

(%)

30 20 10 0 -10 -20 -30 2004.Q1

2005.Q1

2006.Q1

2007.Q1

2008.Q1

2009.Q1

2010.Q1

2011.Q1

2012.Q1

2013.Q1

Facility investment (q-o-q)

2014.Q1

2015.Q1

Facility investment (y-o-y)

The facility investment index in April, despite an increase in transportation equipment, declined 0.8 percent month-on-month as machinery investment fell. The index rose 2.8 percent year-on-year.

Facility investment by type Source: The Bank of Korea (national accounts) 50

(y-o-y, %)

40 30 20 10 0 -10 -20 -30 2004.Q1

2005.Q1

2006.Q1

2007.Q1

2008.Q1

2009.Q1

2010.Q1

2011.Q1

2012.Q1

2013.Q1

2014.Q1

Transportation equipment

2015.Q1

Machinery

(Percentage change from previous quarter)

2013 Annual Annual Facility investment index

Q1

2014 Q2

Q3

Q4

Q11

Jan

2015 Feb

Mar1

Apr1 -0.8

-0.8

5.2

-4.0

1.7

-0.9

8.6

-1.8

-7.7

3.4

-2.7

-

-

7.5

6.7

1.5

5.4

8.2

13.7

3.1

8.1

2.8

- Machinery

-2.1

3.9

-6.1

0.9

-0.8

11.7

-1.6

-2.8

-1.8

0.1

-1.7

- Transportation equipment

2.8

8.8

1.6

3.6

-1.4

1.5

-2.4

-19.8

19.2

-10.0

1.4

(y-o-y)

1. Preliminary Source: Statistics Korea

12

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

Facility investment may slow down, given weakening business sentiment amid sluggish exports and falling facility investment adjustment pressure, notwithstanding an increase in machinery orders.

Business survey index for manufacturing sector (Bank of Korea) 74 (Sep 2014) → 78 (Oct) → 74 (Nov) → 75 (Dec) → 77 (Jan 2015) → 73 (Feb) → 82 (Mar) → 80 (Apr) → 82 (May) → 77 (Jun)

Leading indicators of facility investment Sources: Statistics Korea (machinery orders), Korea International Trade Association (machinery imports) 10

70

(trillion won)

60

9

50

8

40 30

7

20

6

10 0

5

-10

4

-20 -30

3 2 2004.Q1

2005.Q1

2006.Q1

2007.Q1

2008.Q1

2009.Q1

2010.Q1

2011.Q1

2012.Q1

2013.Q1

Machinery orders (left)

2014.Q1

-40 -50 2015.Q1

Machinery imports (right)

(Percentage change from same period in previous year)

Domestic machinery orders (q-o-q, m-o-m) -Public -Private Machinery imports Average manufacturing operation ratio Facility investment adjustment pressure²

2013 Annual Annual Q1 6.6 14.8 18.5 -2.0 20.5 94.2 184.6 5.1 4.8 4.7 1.1 5.8 2.5 76.5 76.1 77.1 -0.9 -1.5 -0.7

2014 Q2 4.0 -11.3 -45.0 9.1 11.9 76.1 -1.1

Q3 49.4 45.2 418.5 7.7 1.7 76.0 -0.5

Q4 -6.3 -26.0 -27.6 -2.0 7.0 75.1 -3.5

Q1¹ -2.6 6.1 -66.9 11.9 8.4 74.3 -2.6

Jan 32.9 31.9 32.0 33.0 14.0 74.1 0.3

2015 Feb 0.5 -17.8 17.6 -0.7 3.1 75.1 -6.5

Mar¹ -25.0 16.6 -85.4 5.4 8.7 73.8 -1.6

Apr¹ 21.9 18.6 31.4 21.5 -5.9 73.9 -4.1

1. Preliminary 2. Production growth rate minus production capacity growth rate in the manufacturing sector (%p) Sources: Statistics Korea, Korea International Trade Association

4. Construction investment Construction investment (preliminary GDP) in the first quarter of 2015 rose 7.4 percent quarter-on-quarter and 0.6 percent year-on-year.

(Percentage change from previous quarter)

Construction investment² (y-o-y) - Building construction - Civil engineering works 1. Preliminary 2. National accounts Source: The Bank of Korea

2012 Annual Annual -3.9 5.5 -1.6 11.2 -7.1 -2.5

2013 Q3 -0.8 7.4 0.2 -2.5

Q4 -4.8 3.5 -3.3 -7.2

Annual 1.0 4.4 -4.4

Q1 5.3 4.1 3.2 8.9

2014 Q2 0.5 0.2 3.1 -3.8

Q3 0.9 2.3 2.4 -1.8

Q4 -7.8 -1.5 -7.3 -8.8

2015 Q1¹ 7.4 0.6 4.5 12.7

13

ECONOMIC BULLETIN โ ข june 2015

Construction investment

Source: The Bank of Korea (national accounts)

(%) 10

5

0

-5

-10 2004.Q1

2005.Q1

2006.Q1

2007.Q1

2008.Q1

2009.Q1

2010.Q1

2011.Q1

2012.Q1

2013.Q1

Construction investment (q-o-q)

2014.Q1

2015.Q1

Construction investment (y-o-y)

The value of construction completed (constant) in April fell 2.6 percent month-on-month, as both building construction and civil engineering works decreased. The index declined 8.6 percent year-on-year.

(Percentage change from previous period)

2013 Annual Annual

Q1

2014 Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1ยน

Jan

2015 Feb

Marยน

Apr1

10.2

-0.8

1.0

-0.4

-2.7

-3.9

4.9

4.3

4.9

-6.9

-2.6

-

-

6.6

0.1

-1.9

-5.9

-1.9

-4.4

0.2

-1.5

-8.6

15.1

7.8

4.8

2.0

-3.8

-3.7

5.1

5.7

4.1

-6.6

-3.8

4.4

-12.3

-4.6

-4.1

-0.8

-4.2

4.5

2.0

6.1

-7.4

-0.5

Construction completed (constant) (y-o-y) - Building construction - Civil engineering works 1. Preliminary Source: Statistics Korea

Construction investment by type Source: The Bank of Korea (national accounts) 50 (y-o-y, %) 40 30 20 10 0 -10 -20 -30 2004.Q1

2005.Q1

Building construction

2006.Q1

2007.Q1

2008.Q1

2009.Q1

2010.Q1

Residential buildings

2011.Q1

2012.Q1

2013.Q1

2014.Q1

2015.Q1

Civil engineering works

14

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

Construction investment is expected to rise, considering a fall in the number of unsold houses and an increase in new apartment sales.

Unsold houses (thousands, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport) 51 (Jul 2014) → 45 (Aug) → 39 (Sep) → 40 (Oct) → 40 (Nov) → 40 (Dec) → 37 (Jan 2015) → 34 (Feb) → 29 (Mar) → 28 (Apr) New apartment sales (thousands, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport) 18 (Jul 2014) → 23 (Aug) → 33 (Sep) → 64 (Oct) → 43 (Nov) → 17 (Dec) → 15 (Jan 2015) → 9 (Feb) → 33 (Mar) → 55 (Apr) → 521 (May) 1. Estimate (Percentage change from same period in previous year)

Construction orders (current value) (q-o-q, m-o-m) - Building construction - Civil engineering works Building permits²

2013 Annual -12.9 -10.2 -18.2 -7.3

Annual 15.3 24.5 -4.4 11.2

Q1 15.5 -5.1 11.2 24.0 18.4

2014 Q2 25.4 12.4 45.6 -11.5 21.6

Q3 42.8 22.0 61.8 -6.2 14.7

Q4 -7.5 -29.0 -5.0 -13.1 -4.6

Q11 54.8 50.3 86.7 -1.5 11.0

Jan 30.5 37.6 75.1 -39.1 36.8

2015 Feb Mar1 -3.3 147.9 -16.6 72.7 3.1 175.5 -12.5 76.3 -20.6 28.3

Apr1 18.3 -25.4 30.8 -7.4 20.3

1. Preliminary 2. Floor area Sources: Statistics Korea, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

Leading indicators of construction investment Sources: Statistics Korea (construction orders), Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (building permit area) 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 -50 -100 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

Construction orders

2014.1

2015.1

Building permit area

5. Exports and imports Exports in May declined 10.9 percent (preliminary) year-on-year to US $42.39 billion.

Exports decreased at a faster pace from 8.0 percent in the previous month to 10.9 percent, partly due to fewer days worked.

15

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

Average daily exports, an indicator adjusted to days worked, was down 6.6 percent year-on-year, posting US $2.07 billion in May. Average daily export growth (y-o-y, %) 1.2 (Sep 2014) → 2.3 (Oct) → 1.6 (Nov) → -1.2 (Dec) → -7.3 (Jan 2015) → 9.4 (Feb) → -8.4 (Mar) → -8.0 (Apr) → -6.6 (May)

By item, almost all exports fell due to a drop in prices and regular maintenance carried out in oil refineries and petrochemical production facilities, with exceptions of mobile phone and semiconductor exports. By region, shipments to most regions continued to fall.

Export growth by item (y-o-y, %) 26.6 (mobile phones), 4.8 (semiconductors), -19.2 (steel), -22.8 (petrochemicals), -33.4 (vessels), -40.0 (petroleum products) Export growth by region (y-o-y, %) -2.7 (Latin America), -3.3 (China), -7.1 (US), -9.0 (EU), -12.9 (Middle East), -13.2 (Japan), -16.7 (ASEAN countries) (US $ billion)

2013 2014 Annual Annual Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 559.63 572.66 137.53 145.67 141.76 147.70 2.1 2.3 1.6 3.2 3.9 0.9 2.05 2.11 2.07 2.19 2.07 2.13

Exports (y-o-y, %) Average daily exports

May 47.58 -1.5 2.21

Q1 133.48 -2.9 2.01

2015 Mar Apr 46.88 46.23 -4.5 -8.0 1.95 1.93

May1 42.39 -10.9 2.07

1. Preliminary Source: Korea Customs Service

Exports by item 160 140

Sources: Korea Customs Service, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (export and import trends)

(y-o-y, %)

120 100 80 60 40 20 0 -20 -40 -60 -80 2004.1

2005.1

Export growth rate

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

Semiconductors

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

Automobiles

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

Steel

Imports in May fell 15.3 percent (preliminary) year-on-year to US $36.07 billion.

Commodity imports decreased at a slower pace in May, owing to the recent increase in international oil prices (US $57.7 per barrel in April to US $63.0 per barrel in May). Imports of capital goods continued to fall, whereas consumer goods imports rebounded in May. Import growth by category (Apr → May, y-o-y, %) -29.0 → -24.7 (commodities), -1.6 → -3.4 (capital goods), -0.9 → 2.1 (consumer goods)

16

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

(US $ billion)

2013 Imports

2014

2015

Annual

Annual

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

May

Q1

Mar

Apr

May1

515.59

525.51

132.37

130.96

132.84

129.35

42.61

111.81

38.46

37.73

36.07

(y-o-y, %)

-0.8

1.9

2.0

3.3

5.4

-2.8

0.5

-15.5

-15.6

-17.8

-15.3

Average daily imports

1.89

1.94

1.99

1.97

1.94

1.86

1.98

1.68

1.60

1.57

1.76

1. Preliminary Source: Korea Customs Service

Imports by item 100

Sources: Korea Customs Service, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (export and import trends)

(y-o-y, %)

80 60 40 20 0 -20 -40 -60 -80

2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

Import growth rate

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

Commodities

Exports and imports

2015.1

Capital goods

Sources: Korea Customs Service, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (export and import trends)

60 (US $ billion) 50 40 30 20 10 0 -10 2004.1

2005.1

Trade balance

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

Exports

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

Imports

The trade balance (preliminary) grew at a slower pace in May, posting a surplus of US $6.32 billion, while remaining in the black for the 40th consecutive month.

17

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

(US $ billion)

2013 Annual 44.05

Trade balance

2014 Annual 47.15

Q1 5.17

Q2 14.72

2015 Q3 8.92

Q4 18.35

May 4.97

Q1 21.68

Mar 8.42

Apr 8.50

May1 6.32

1. Preliminary Source: Korea Customs Service

6. Mining and manufacturing production Mining and manufacturing production fell 1.2 percent month-on-month in April as strong automobiles, communications equipment and semiconductors were offset by other transportation equipment, processed metals, refined petroleum and chemicals. Compared to the same period of the previous year, the index fell 2.7 percent.

Compared to the previous month, production of automobiles (up 2.8%), communications equipment (up 9.0%) and semiconductors (up 1.8%) rose, while production of other transportation equipment (down 13.0%), processed metals (down 8.0%), refined petroleum (down 2.6) and chemicals (down 1.5%) decreased.

Compared to a year ago, production of semiconductors (up 18.8%), processed metals (up 1.4%) and furniture (up 8.6%) rose, while electronic parts (down 12.2%), other transportation equipment (down 17.0%) and communications equipment (down 23.6%) declined.

Industrial production Source: Statistics Korea (industrial activity trends) 50 (%) 40 30 20 10 0 -10 -20 -30 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

Industrial production (m-o-m)

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

Industrial production (y-o-y)

The manufacturing inventory-shipment ratio rose 2.9 percentage points month-on-month to 126.5 percent as inventories rose 1.9 percent and shipments fell 0.4 percent.

Inventories of semiconductors (up 28.2%), automobiles (up 3.9%) and primary metals (up 2.1%) rose, while chemicals (down 2.8%), refined petroleum (down 5.6%) and electronic parts (down 1.6 %) declined.

18

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

Shipments of semiconductors (up 8.5%), automobiles (up1.6%) and refined petroleum (up 2.2%) rose, while other transportation equipment (down 11.2%), electronic parts (down 4.5%) and processed metals (down 5.2%) fell.

The average operation ratio of the manufacturing sector rose 0.1 percentage points month-on-month to 73.9 percent.

Shipment and inventory 10

Source: Statistics Korea (industrial activity trends)

(m-o-m, %)

8 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 -8 -10 -12 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

Shipment growth

2014.1

2015.1

Inventory growth

Average manufacturing operation ratio

Source: Statistics Korea (industrial activity trends)

100 (%)

90

80

70

60

50 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

Although mining and manufacturing production in May will likely be positively affected by IT industries releasing new products, slowing exports and fewer working days due to national holidays may offset the positive factor.

19

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

(Percentage change from previous period)

2013 Annual Annual

Q1

2014 Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1¹

Jan

-0.3

-0.6

0.1

-0.9

-0.1

-3.7

2.3

Mining (q-o-q, m-o-m)

-

-

(y-o-y)

0.7

0.0

0.7

0.5

1.2

-1.9

-0.9

1.8

Manufacturing (q-o-q, m-o-m)

-

-

-0.2

-0.7

0.1

-1.0

0.0

-3.8

0.7

0.1

0.7

0.4

1.2

-1.9

-1.1

1.6

Mining and (y-o-y) manufacturing Shipment activity² - Domestic consumption

2015 Feb¹ Mar¹ Apr¹ -0.3

-1.2

-5.0

0.2

-2.7

2.5

-0.4

-1.3

-5.1

-0.1

-2.7

0.7

0.0

-0.3

-0.3

-0.4

0.0

-0.6

-3.2

0.5

0.2

-0.4

-0.8

0.3

-0.4

-0.1

-0.8

-0.8

0.4

-2.6

2.7

-0.8

1.0

- Exports

2.6

-0.4

-0.1

-0.3

0.1

1.1

-2.1

-3.9

-2.0

1.2

-1.9

Inventory³

4.4

-1.8

-0.3

0.6

0.9

-2.2

3.4

-0.1

2.8

0.8

1.9

Manufacturing Average operation ratio (%) indicators Production capacity (y-o-y)

76.5

76.1

77.1

76.1

76.0

75.1

74.3

74.1

75.1

73.8

73.9

1.6

1.6

1.4

1.5

1.7

1.6

1.5

1.3

1.4

1.5

1.4

1. Preliminary 2. Including mining, manufacturing, electricity and gas industry 3. End-period

7. Service sector activity Service output in April rose 0.5 percent month-on-month, as declines in publishing & communications services and business services were offset by gains in wholesale & retail, hotels & restaurants and real estate & renting. Compared to the same period of the previous year, service output rose 4.1 percent.

Wholesale & retail (up 1.4%, m-o-m) and hotels & restaurants (up 1.0%, m-o-m) were up after a decline in March, while publishing & communications services (down 2.0%, m-o-m) and business services (down 1.2%, m-o-m) were down after a rise in the previous month.

Financial & insurance services (up 0.4%, m-o-m) and real estate & renting (up 2.4%, m-o-m) continued to rise.

Wholesale & retail

Statistics Korea (industrial activity trends)

20 (%) 15

10

5

0

-5

-10 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

Wholesale & retail (m-o-m)

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

Wholesale & retail (y-o-y)

20

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

(Percentage change from previous period)

2012 2013 Weight Annual Annual Q4 Service activity index

Annual

2014 Q1 Q2

Q3

Q4

2015 Q11 Mar1 Apr1

100.0

1.6

1.5

0.8

2.2

0.7

0.1

0.9

1.0

0.5 -0.2

21.6

0.8

0.1

0.8

-0.2

-0.4 -0.5

0.1

0.1

0.5 -0.7

1.4

- Transportation services

8.5

1.2

1.0

-0.3

1.7

0.8

0.6

2.6

0.1 -1.5

0.0

- Hotels & restaurants

7.2

-1.2

0.5

0.9

1.2

0.2 -1.5

2.6 -1.2 -0.5 -0.8

1.0

- Publishing & communications services

8.4

3.0

2.2

3.0

1.8

-1.2

- Wholesale & retail

- Financial & insurance services

0.7

0.9 -0.2

0.1 -2.6

0.5

3.6 -2.0

14.7

2.8

0.5

0.5

5.2

2.5

1.2

2.1

2.9

2.7

0.6

0.4

- Real estate & renting

5.3

-4.8

2.5

2.7

6.2

0.2

4.4

0.0

3.6 -1.9

3.8

2.4

- Professional, scientific & technical services

5.6

3.7

3.3

0.4

2.3

0.1

2.6 -1.1

2.0 -2.9 -3.1

1.7

- Business services

3.3

3.5

2.1

0.4

2.4

1.5 -0.6

0.3

1.0

1.9

- Education services

10.9

0.9

0.8

0.3

1.3

1.6 -1.9

1.1

0.0

0.9 -0.7 -0.4

- Healthcare & social welfare services

7.5

6.7

5.2

1.7

6.3

1.4

1.4

2.7

2.1 -0.7 -0.5

- Entertainment, cultural & sports services

2.9

2.8

-0.7

-0.4

-1.1

0.0 -4.7

6.1 -2.1

2.6 -2.2

0.4

- Membership organizations & personal services - Sewerage & waste management

3.6

-1.4

6.1

-1.0

-0.6

1.1 -1.0

0.5 -3.8

1.8 -2.1

3.2

0.6

-0.6

-0.4

1.2

1.0

0.2 -1.4

1.6

1.8 -2.8

2.6

1.0

1.1

2.4 -1.2

1. Preliminary Source: Statistics Korea

Service sector activity 20

Source: Statistics Korea (industrial activity trends)

(%)

15

10

5

0

-5

-10 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

Service sector activity (m-o-m)

10

2015.1

Service sector activity (y-o-y)

April 2015 service output by business 12

2014.1

Source: Statistics Korea (industrial activity trends)

(y-o-y, %)

8 6 4

Total index

Transportation services

2

Publishing & communications services

Professional, scientific & technical services

Education services

Membership organizations & personal services

0 -2 -4 -6 -8 -10 -12

Wholesale & retail

Hotels & restaurants

Real estate & renting Financial & insurance services

Business services

Health & social welfare services

Entertainment, cultural & sports services

Sewerage & waste management

21

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

The service output outlook for May is mixed, as growth in average daily stock transactions slowed down and department store and discount store sales rose year-on-year.

Average daily stock transactions (trillion won) 6.3 (Aug 2014) → 6.6 (Sep) → 6.8 (Oct) → 6.7 (Nov) → 6.0 (Dec) → 7.2 (Jan 2015) → 7.5 (Feb) → 8.1 (Mar) → 10.9 (Apr) → 9.8 (May)

8. Employment The number of workers on payroll in April increased by 216,000 from a year earlier to 25,900,000 and the employment rate declined 0.3 percentage points to 60.3 percent.

By industry, services and manufacturing continued to lead employment growth.

By employment status, permanent workers continued to lead employment growth, while temporary and daily workers rose at a slower pace and self-employed workers continued to decline.

2011 2012 2013 Annual Annual Annual Q3 Number of employed (millions)

Q4 Annual Q1

2014 Q2 Q3

Q4

Apr

Q1

2015 Mar Apr

24.24 24.68 25.07 25.41 25.35 25.60 24.91 25.79 25.93 25.77 25.68 25.27 25.50 25.90

Employment rate (%)

59.1 59.4 59.5 60.3 60.0 60.2 58.8 60.8 60.9 60.4 60.6 59.0 59.5 60.3

(Seasonally adjusted)

59.1 59.4 59.5 59.7 59.9 60.2 60.4 59.9 60.3 60.3 60.2 60.5 60.3 60.0

Employment growth (y-o-y, thousands)

415

437

386

421

541

533

729

464

517

422

581

354

338

216

(Excluding agriculture, forestry & fisheries)

440

451

394

402

556

601

717

518

638

531

610

441

408

351

- Manufacturing

63

14

79

26

49

146

123

136

194

129

96

139

116

167

- Construction

-2

22

-19

4

-9

42

27

12

57

72

-3

72

79

63

- Services

386

416

318

354

507

424

570

387

403

108

- Agriculture, forestry & fisheries

-25

-14

-8

19

-15

-68

12

- Wage workers

427

315

483

526

604

548

· Permanent workers

575

436

615

632

637

· Temporary workers

-78

-2

-96

-65

2

· Daily workers

-70 -120

-37

-42

-11

121

-97 -105

1

124

-67

- Male

238

234

- Female

177

203

- 15 to 29

-35

- 30 to 39

-47

- 40 to 49

- Nonwage workers · Self-employed workers

- 50 to 59 - 60 or more Source: Statistics Korea

336

531

222

196

-54 -121 -109

-29

-87

-70 -135

711

485

519

476

589

442

402

347

443

606

478

333

355

532

355

331

300

140

74

118

226

141

154

82

43

-31

-35

-35

31 -111

-40

-20

-97

4

28

78

-63

-15

19

-22

-3

-54

-8

-88

-64 -131

-83

-54

1

-7

-14

19

7

-3

-49

-19

-57

186

179

262

266

373

228

268

196

289

141

166

121

200

242

279

267

357

236

249

226

292

213

172

95

-36

-50

-41

46

77

97

53

102

56

94

32

39

85

-31

-21

-34

-42

-21

-6

-42

-7

-29

-60

-1

-3

-68

57

11

22

30

53

38

99

34

15

4

68

-47

-67

-26

291

270

254

279

285

239

323

227

215

190

273

177

158

112

149

222

181

187

200

200

218

192

192

201

206

192

210

114

22

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

Number of persons employed and employment growth 1,000

Source: Statistics Korea (employment trends)

(thousands)

27

(millions)

800

26

600 25 400 24 200 23

0

22

-200

21

-400 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

Employment growth (y-o-y, left)

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

Number of employed (seasonally adjusted, right)

Employment rate Source: Statistics Korea (employment trends) 64

(%)

63 62 61 60 59 58 57 56 55 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

Original data

2015.1

Seasonally adjusted rate

Employment by industry

Source: Statistics Korea (employment trends) (%)

100

80

60

70.9 71.1 70.2 69.4 69.2 69.1 69.4 69.6 69.4 69.1 69.7 70.8 71.1 71.2 70.6 69.7 69.4 69.3 69.6 69.7 69.6 69.5 69.8 70.8 71.5 71.4 70.8 70.2

40 6.9

6.7

6.9

7.1

7.1

7.1

7.0

6.9

7.0

7.1

7.0

7.0

6.8

6.7

6.8

6.9

7.1

7.1

7.1

7.0

7.1

7.1

7.2

7.2

7.0

6.9

7.0

7.1

20 17.4 17.3 16.9 16.7 16.4 16.4 16.4 16.3 16.4 16.5 16.7 17.1 17.3 17.2 17.0 16.7 16.8 16.8 16.8 16.7 16.8 16.8 16.8 17.4 17.6 17.6 17.3 17.2 0

4.3

4.6

2013.1 2

Services

5.6

6.3

6.7

6.9

6.7

6.8

6.8

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

6.9

6.2

4.7

10

11

12 2014.1 2

Construction

4.4

4.5

5.3

6.1

6.4

6.5

6.2

6.2

6.2

6.2

5.8

4.2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Manufacturing

4.1

4.9

5.5

2015.1 2

3.9

3

4

Agriculture, forestry & fisheries

23

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

Employment by status of workers Source: Statistics Korea (employment trends) 100

80

(%) 4.2

4.7

5.0

5.0

5.2

5.1

5.2

5.2

5.3

5.1

4.3

4.2

4.3

4.6

4.8

5.0

5.0

5.0

5.0

4.9

4.9

4.7

4.1

4.0

4.1

4.3

4.5

22.7 22.8 23.0 22.8 22.6 22.5 22.6 22.7 22.5 22.4 22.2 21.9 22.1 22.0 22.3 22.2 22.1 22.1 22.1 22.4 22.2 22.1 21.9 21.5 21.5 21.5 21.9 21.8 6.2

60

4.2

6.0

6.0

6.5

6.7

6.7

6.3

6.1

6.3

6.5

6.4

6.4

6.3

6.0

5.7

6.0

6.1

6.1

6.0

5.8

6.1

6.2

6.4

6.2

6.0

6.0

5.7

6.2

19.9 19.7 19.5 19.5 19.5 19.5 19.6 19.2 19.4 19.4 19.5 19.5 19.2 19.4 19.6 19.7 19.7 19.5 20.1 19.7 19.8 19.7 19.7 19.7 19.5 19.4 19.5 19.4

40

20

0

46.9 47.3 47.0 46.3 46.2 46.1 46.4 46.8 46.7 46.5 46.9 47.8 48.3 48.2 47.8 47.3 47.1 47.2 46.8 47.0 47.1 47.2 47.3 48.5 49.0 49.0 48.5 48.1

2013.1

2

3

4

5

6

Unpaid family workers

7

8

9

10

11

12 2014.1 2

Self-employed workers

3

4

5

6

Daily workers

7

8

9

10

11

Temporary workers

12 2015.1 2

3

4

Regular workers

The number of unemployed persons in April increased by 23,000 year-on-year to 1,053,000, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.9 percent. The unemployment rate declined among those in their 40s, remained unchanged among those in their 30s, and rose in other age groups.

The economically inactive population in April was up 272,000 from a year earlier to 15,970,000, while the labor force participation rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 62.8 percent.

The number of those economically inactive due to education (down 197,000, y-o-y) and housework (down 2,000, y-o-y) decreased, while those due to rest (up 214,000, y-o-y) and childcare (up 71,000, y-o-y) increased.

Unemployment rate

Source: Statistics Korea (employment trends)

6 (%)

5

4

3

2 2004.1

2005.1

Original data

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

Seasonally adjusted rate

24

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

2011 2012 2013 Annual Annual Annual Q3

Q4 Annual Q1

Number of unemployed (thousands) Unemployment growth (y-o-y, thousands) - Male

855

820

807

777

733

-65

-35

-13

7

-48

-26

-6

11

2014 Q2 Q3

2015 Mar

Q4

Apr

Q1

1,030 1,089 1,076 1,053

Apr

937 1,031 977

884

854

11

137

107

121

205

58

52

23

-7

49

37

59

95

25

11

-1

125 165 40

62

- Female

-17

-9

-7

-4

18

80

84 103

70

63

110

32

41

24

Unemployment rate (%)

3.4

3.2

3.1

3.0

2.8

3.5

4.0

3.3

3.2

3.9

4.1

4.0

3.9

(Seasonally adjusted) -15 to 29

3.4

3.2

3.1

3.1

3.0

3.5

3.5

3.7

3.5

3.5

3.7

3.7

3.7

3.7

7.6

7.5

8.0

7.9

7.9

9.0

9.8

9.4

8.6

8.3

10.0

10.3

10.7

10.2

3.7

- 30 to 39

3.4

3.0

3.0

2.9

2.6

3.1

3.2

3.4

3.0

2.8

3.6

3.1

3.3

3.6

- 40 to 49

2.1

2.0

2.0

1.9

1.7

2.2

2.3

2.4

2.1

2.1

2.6

2.4

2.6

2.4

- 50 to 59 - 60 or more

2.1

2.1

1.9

1.8

1.5

2.2

2.2

2.3

2.1

2.2

2.3

2.6

2.5

2.5

2.6

2.4

1.8

1.2

1.4

2.3

4.4

1.9

1.5

1.6

2.0

4.1

2.8

2.3

Source: Statistics Korea

Labor force participation rate

Source: Statistics Korea (employment trends)

65 (%) 64 63 62 61 60 59 58 57 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

Original data

2015.1

Seasonally adjusted rate

2011 2012 2013 Annual Annual Annual Q3 Economically inactive population (millions)

2014.1

Q4 Annual Q1

2014 Q2 Q3

Q4

Apr

Q1

2015 Mar Apr

15.95 16.08 16.22 15.98 16.17 15.98 16.40 15.69 15.76 16.07 15.70 16.47 16.30 15.97

Labor force participation rate (%) 61.1 61.3 61.5 62.1 61.7 62.4 61.3 63.1 63.0 62.4 63.0 61.5 62.0 62.8 (Seasonally adjusted) Growth in economically inactive population (y-o-y, thousands) - Childcare

61.1 61.3 61.5 61.6 61.7 62.4 62.6 62.2 62.5 62.4 62.6 62.8 62.6 62.4 112

128

141

78

-14

-29

106

272

-5

-2

1

-57

-41

-31

-53

41

28

71

101

123

-3

-80 -112 -131 -230 -127

-99

-67 -184

-91

-56

-2

- Education

-51

-12

77

88

- Old age - Rest

-45

148

54

32

182

-53

-7

12

-44

-39

72

- Housework

Source: Statistics Korea

9

-91 -246 -433 -226 -222 -101 -374

-81

-76

-68 -109

-72

-56 -141 -153 -197

21

93

81

113

21

-92 -197

-90

91

89

110

68

65

107

-65

-15 -175

154

181

214

25

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

9. Financial markets 9.1 Stock market The KOSPI fell 0.6 percent in May, from 2,127 points to 2,115 points. The KOSPI declined following a surge early in the month as institutional investors sold shares amid global market interest rate hikes. However, investor sentiment picked up later in the month with rising expectations for the ECB’s expansion of its quantitative easing.

Stock prices 2,200

(monthly average)

2,000 1,800 1,600 1,400 1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

KOSPI

2015.1

KOSDAQ

(Closing rate)

Apr 2015

KOSPI May 2015

Change1

Apr 2015

KOSDAQ May 2015

Change1

Stock price index (points)

2,127.2

2,114.8

-12.4 (-0.6%)

689.0

711.4

22.4 (3.3%)

Market capitalization (trillion won)

1,327.3

1,318.6

-8.7 (-0.7%)

185.5

192.5

7.0 (3.8%)

6.6

5.9

-0.7 (-10.6%)

4.3

3.9

-0.4 (-9.3%)

34.0

33.5

-0.5 (-1.5%)

10.5

10.3

-0.2 (-1.9%)

Average daily trade value (trillion won) Foreign stock ownership (%, %p) 1. Change from the end of the previous month Source: Korea Exchange

9.2 Exchange rate The dollar-won exchange rate in May rose 35.8 won to 1,108.2 won from 1,072.4 won at the end of April, despite export companies selling dollars, as the dollar gained value due to improving US economic data and the Fed chief’s implication of a rate hike within the year.

The 100 yen-won exchange rate fell from 904.4 won in April to 894.7 won in May, as the dollar-yen rate surged due to monetary policy differences between the US and Japan, while the dollar-won rate rose by a smaller margin as export companies sold dollars.

26

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

Foreign exchange rates 1,800

(month-end, \)

1,600 1,400 1,200 1,000 800 600 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

Dollar-Won

2015.1

100 Yen-Won

(Closing rate)

2009 Dec

2010 Dec

2011 Dec

2012 Dec

2013 Dec

2014 Dec

Apr

2015 May

Change1

Dollar-Won

1,164.5

1,134.8

1,151.8

1,070.6

1,055.4

100 Yen-Won

1,264.5

1,393.6

1,481.2

1,238.3

1,002.3

1,099.3

1,072.4

1,108.2

-0.8

913.0

904.4

894.7

2.1

1. Appreciation from the end of the previous year (%); the exchange rate is based on the closing price at 3:00 p.m., local time.

9.3 Bond market 3-year Treasury bond yields fell from 1.84 percent in April to 1.75 percent in May. Treasury bond yields declined as demand for safe assets rose amid poor economic data in the US and uncertainties over Greece’s bailout, and also as sluggish economic indicators in Korea fueled expectations for additional rate cuts by the BOK.

Interest rates

Source: The Bank of Korea

10 (monthly average, yearly, %) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

Overnight call rate (daily)

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

3-yr Treasury bond yield

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

3-yr corporate bond yield

27

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

(Closing rate, %)

2009 Dec

2010 Dec

2011 Dec

2012 Dec

2013 Dec

2014 Dec

Mar

Apr

2015 May

Change1

Call rate (1 day)

2.01

2.51

3.29

2.77

2.52

2.03

1.74

1.74

1.74

-

CD (91 days)

2.88

2.80

3.55

2.89

2.66

2.13

1.85

1.80

1.80

-

Treasury bonds (3 yrs)

4.44

3.38

3.34

2.82

2.86

2.10

1.72

1.84

1.75

-9

Corporate bonds (3 yrs)

5.56

4.27

4.21

3.29

3.29

2.43

1.99

2.08

2.01

-7

Treasury bonds (5 yrs)

4.98

4.08

3.46

2.97

3.23

2.28

1.80

2.04

1.92

-12

1. Basis point, changes from the previous month

9.4 Money supply & money market M2 (monthly average) in March rose 8.3 percent from a year earlier. Private sector credit surged due to an increase in loans and securities investment, and money supply in the overseas sector also rose due to continuing current account surpluses and strong inflows of foreign portfolio investment capital.

(Percentage change from same period in previous year, average)

2009 Annual

2010 Annual

2011 Annual

2012 Annual

2013 Annual

M1²

16.3

11.8

6.6

3.8

9.5

M2 Lf ³

10.3

8.7

4.2

5.2

7.9

8.2

5.3

7.8

2014 Annual

2015 Jan

Feb

Mar

Mar1

10.9

12.5

14.3

15.5

600.7

4.8

6.6

8.0

8.0

8.3

2,127.9

6.9

7.0

8.4

8.6

9.3

2,908.0

1. Balance at end March 2015, trillion won 2. M1 excluding corporate MMFs and individual MMFs while including CMAs 3. Liquidity aggregates of financial institutions (mostly identical with M3)

Total money supply Source: The Bank of Korea 40 (y-o-y, monthly average balance, %) 30

20

10

0

-10

-20 2004.1

2005.1

Reserve money

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

M1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

Lf

28

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

Bank deposits inched down in April, led by time deposits (2.3 trillion won → -4.3 trillion won), as interest rates declined and corporations withdrew deposits for dividend payments.

Asset management company (AMC) deposits grew at a faster pace, led by money market funds (MMF) (1.8 trillion won → 11.1 trillion won), due to inflows of banks’ short-term surplus funds.

Deposits in financial institutions 60

Source: The Bank of Korea

(y-o-y, end of month balance, trillion won)

50 40 30 20 10 0 -10 -20 -30 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

(Change from previous period, end-period, trillion won)

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Annual Annual Annual Annual Annual Annual

2015 Dec

Feb

Mar

Apr

Apr1

Bank deposits

54.8

36.9

58.9

37.0

41.0

115.4

52.0

9.5

5.7

-0.1

1,288.2

AMC deposits

-27.6

-16.7

-16.6

18.8

17.7

47.0

-8.7

11.2

2.0

14.2

424.0

1. Balance at end April 2015

10. Balance of payments Korea’s current account (preliminary) in April posted a surplus of US $8.14 billion, staying in the black for 38 consecutive months, the longest streak in history.

The goods account surplus rose from US $11.25 billion in March to US $12.56 billion in April, as intermediary trade surpluses increased.

Intermediary trade surpluses (US $ billion) 0.78 (Mar 2015) → 1.09 (Apr 2015) Goods exports (US $ billion) 49.49 (Mar 2015) → 50.38 (Apr 2015)

29

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

Current account balance 14

Source: The Bank of Korea (balance of payments trends)

(US $ billion)

12 10 8 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

Services account

Goods account

2014.1

2015.1

Current account

Compared to the same period of the previous year, the goods account surplus expanded from US $11.25 billion to US $12.56 billion as imports declined by a greater margin than exports.

Import growth by category (y-o-y, %) -17.8 (total), -29.0 (commodities), -1.6 (capital goods), -0.9 (consumer goods) Export growth by item (y-o-y, %) -8.0 (total), -43.1 (petroleum products), -9.5 (steel), -8.6 (mobile phones), -8.2 (automobiles), 6.9 (semiconductors)

The services account deficit rose from US $0.97 billion to US $1.13 billion, led by a rise in the travel account deficit.

Services account (US $ billion, March → April) -0.38 → -0.43 (manufacturing), -0.05 → 0.16 (transportation), -0.36 → -0.59 (travel), 0.80 → 0.74 (construction), -0.28 → -0.19 (intellectual property rights), -0.76 → -0.79 (other businesses)

Travel balance 4

Source: The Bank of Korea (balance of payments trends)

(US $ billion)

3 2 1 -1 -2 -3 2004.1

2005.1

Travel balance

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

Travel revenue

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

Travel payment

30

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

The primary income account turned from a surplus of US $0.53 billion to a deficit of US $2.84 billion due to a rise in dividend payments by corporations that close books in December. The secondary income account deficit rose from US $0.38 billion to US $0.46 billion.

(US $ billion)

2013 Annual Annual

2014 Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Apr

Q1

2015 Mar

Apr1

Current account

81.15

89.22

15.19

24.24

22.57

27.23

7.16

23.45

10.43

8.14

- Goods balance

82.78

92.69

17.75

26.43

21.68

26.84

10.65

25.26

11.25

12.56

- Services balance

-6.50

-8.16

-3.50

-1.84

-0.90

-1.92

-1.00

-5.41

-0.97

-1.13

- Primary income balance - Secondary income balance

9.06

10.20

1.91

1.33

3.14

3.82

-1.62

4.83

0.53

-2.84

-4.19

-5.50

-0.96

-1.68

-1.35

-1.51

-0.86

-1.22

-0.38

-0.46

1. Preliminary Source: The Bank of Korea

The capital and financial account (preliminary) in April posted a net outflow of US $10.07 billion.

Capital & financial account balance (US $ billion) -8.76 (Sep 2014) → -6.80 (Oct) → -9.92 (Nov) → -9.80 (Dec) → -8.25 (Jan 2015) → -5.54 (Feb) → -11.03 (Mar) → -10.07 (Apr)

FDI net outflows decreased from US $2.39 billion to US $1.97 billion.

Net outflows of portfolio investment decreased from US $1.21 billion to US $0.14 billion as foreign investment in Korean shares surged.

Net inflows of financial derivatives investment rose from US $0.09 billion to US $0.30 billion, while net outflows of other investment went up from US $4.62 billion to US $4.85 billion.

The current account is expected to continue posting a surplus in May, considering the trade surplus in May (US $6.32 billion).

Capital & financial account balance

Source: The Bank of Korea (balance of payments trends)

15 (US $ billion) 10

5

0

-5

-10

-15 2004.1

2005.1

Direct investment

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

Portfolio investment

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

Financial derivatives

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

Capital & financial account

31

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

11. Prices 11.1 Consumer prices Consumer prices rose 0.5 percent year-on-year in May.

Consumer price inflation 7

Source: Statistics Korea (consumer price trends)

(%)

6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

Consumer price inflation (m-o-m)

2014.1

2015.1

Consumer price inflation (y-o-y)

Consumer price inflation

(%)

May

Jun

Jul

2014 Aug Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

2015 Mar

Apr

May

Month-on-Month

0.2

-0.1

0.1

0.2

-0.1

-0.3

-0.2

0.0

0.5

0.0

0.0

0.1

0.3

Year-on-Year

1.7

1.7

1.6

1.4

1.1

1.2

1.0

0.8

0.8

0.5

0.4

0.4

0.5

Source: Statistics Korea

Contribution to consumer price inflation 7

Source: Statistics Korea (consumer price trends)

(%p)

5

3

1

�1 2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Agricultural, livestock & fishery products

Manufactured products

Housing rents

Public services

Personal services

Public utilities

32

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

Declines in oil product prices (down 19.3%) and public gas fees (down 5.9% in January, down 10.1% in March, down 10.3% in May) pushed down consumer price inflation in May by 1.01 percentage points and 0.47 percentage points, respectively. However, due to recent gains in international oil prices, oil product prices fell at a slower pace in May compared to April (down 20.9%).

Consumer price inflation in major sectors Total

Agricultural, livestock & fishery products

Manufactured Public Housing Public Personal products Oil products utilities rents services services

Year-on-Year (%)

0.5

2.7

-0.3

-19.3

-9.0

2.4

0.5

1.8

Contribution (%p)

-

0.2

-0.09

-1.01

-0.47

0.23

0.07

0.58

Core inflation stayed in the 2 percent range. Consumer prices excluding oil and agricultural products rose 2.1 percent year-on-year, and consumer prices excluding food and energy rose 2.2 percent.

Prices 16

Source: Statistics Korea (consumer price trends)

(y‐o‐y, %)

13 10 7 4 1 -2 -5 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

Consumer price inflation

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

Core inflation

2014.1

2015.1

Producer price inflation

(y-o-y, %)

2014 Consumer prices excluding oil and agricultural products Consumer prices excluding food and energy

Nov 1.6 1.3

Dec 1.6 1.4

Jan 2.4 2.3

Feb 2.3 2.3

Source: Statistics Korea

The expected annual inflation remained flat at 2.5 percent.

Expected inflation (%, Bank of Korea) 2.6 (Dec 2014) → 2.6 (Jan 2015) → 2.6 (Feb) → 2.5 (Mar) → 2.5 (Apr) → 2.5 (May)

11.2 International oil and commodity prices International oil prices rose in May amid growing demand and a weakening dollar.

2015 Mar 2.1 2.3

Apr 2.0 2.3

May 2.1 2.2

33

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

Dubai crude prices rose early in the month, but fell back after the second week on expectations that the OPEC will keep its output target on hold.

Dubai crude ($/barrel) 63.8 (1st week May) → 63.3 (2nd week) → 63.0 (3rd week) → 62.0 (4th week) US dollar index (Mar 1973=100) 95.6 (5th week Apr) → 94.8 (1st week May) → 94.0 (2nd week) → 95.2 (3rd week) → 96.9 (4th week) (US $/barrel, period average)

2012 2013 Annual Annual Annual

Q1

2014 Q2

Q3

Q4

Jan

Feb

2015 Mar

Apr

May

Dubai crude

109.0

105.2

96.6

104.4

106.1

101.6

74.6

45.8

55.7

54.7

57.7

63.0

Brent crude

111.7

108.7

99.1

108.1

109.7

102.7

76.7

49.7

58.8

56.9

61.1

65.6

WTI crude

94.2

98.0

93.1

98.7

103.0

97.2

73.4

47.3

50.7

47.9

54.6

59.4

Source: Korea PDS

International oil prices 160

Source: Korea National Oil Corporation

($/B)

140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

Dubai crude

2015.1

WTI

Domestic gasoline prices were up in May as the rise in international oil prices was reflected with a time lag.

Gasoline prices (won/liter) 1,516.3 (1st week May) → 1,532.2 (2nd week) → 1,550.9 (3rd week) → 1,564.8 (4th week) (Won/liter, period average)

2012 Annual

2013 Annual Annual

Q1

2014 Q2

Q3

Q4

Jan

Feb

2015 Mar

Apr

May

Gasoline prices

1,985.8 1,924.5 1,827.6 1,882.6 1,868.6 1,837.8 1,721.1 1,504.8 1,439.1 1,507.7 1,507.4 1,542.2

Diesel prices

1,806.3 1,729.6 1,637.0 1,699.9 1,680.0 1,641.4 1,526.7 1,330.5 1,277.1 1,326.8 1,320.2 1,343.5

Source: Korea National Oil Corporation

34

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

Dubai crude prices and import prices Source: Korea National Oil Corporation 160

160

(thousand won/B)

140

140

120

120

100

100

80

80

60

60

40

40

20

20

2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

Dubai crude (import prices, won, left)

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

Dubai international prices (dollar, right)

International grain prices declined in May, due to favorable weather conditions and improved crop conditions in the US and the Black Sea Region. In the US, corn planting is taking place faster with weather at its best since 2010. In the Black Sea Region, rainfall improved conditions for growing wheat.

International grain price increases in May (m-o-m, %) corn (-3.8), wheat (-2.2), raw sugar (-1.8), soybeans (-1.4)

Nonferrous metal prices rose due to declining output and expectations for increased demand. Production was disrupted in Zambia’s Copperbelt due to blackouts on April 28, leading to copper futures rallying to the highest level since March 2014 at the London Metal Exchange on May 15.

Nonferrous metal price increases in May (m-o-m, %) copper (4.5), nickel (5.7), zinc (3.8), aluminum (-0.7)

International commodity prices

Sources: Bloomberg (CRB), The Bank of Korea (Reuters Index)

* CRB demonstrates a futures price index of 21 commodities listed on the US Commodity Transaction Market, including beans and other crops, crude oil and jewelry.

470

4000

430 390

3000

350 310

2000

270 230

1000

190 150

0

2004.1

CRB (left)

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

Reuters index (right)

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ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

(Period average)

Reuters Index1 (sep 18,1931=100)

2012 Annual

2013 Annual Annual

3,006

2,774

2,523

Q1

2014 Q2

Q3

Q4

Jan

2,600

2,609

2,491

2,397

2,377

Feb

2015 Mar

Apr

May

2,351

2,374

2,389

2,374

1. A weighted average index of 17 major commodities Source: KOREA PDS

12. Real estate market 12.1 Housing market Apartment prices rose 0.3 percent month-on-month nationwide in May. Apartment price growth decelerated in the Seoul metropolitan area (up 0.4%), which includes Seoul (up 0.4%) and Gyeonggi Province (up 0.5%).

Apartment price growth in areas excluding the Seoul metropolitan area also decelerated (up 0.2%).

Apartment prices in the five metropolitan cities and the eight provinces were up 0.4 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.

Apartment price increase in five metropolitan cities (m-o-m, %) Busan (0.3), Daegu (0.8), Gwangju (0.6), Daejeon (0.0), Ulsan (0.3)

Apartment sales prices by region

Source: Korea Appraisal Board

3 (m‐o‐m, %)

2

1

0

-1 2009.1

Nationwide

7

2010.1

7

2011.1

7

2012.1

Seoul metropolitan area

7

2013.1

7

2014.1

7

2015.1

Areas excluding Seoul metropolitan area

36

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

Nationwide apartment prices Nationwide Seoul metropolitan area Seoul Gangnam¹ Gangbuk² Areas excluding the Seoul metropolitan area

(Percentage change from previous period)

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Annual Annual Annual Annual Annual Nov 1.9 6.9 0.0 0.3 1.7 0.2 -1.7 0.5 -3.0 -1.1 1.5 0.2 -1.2 0.3 -2.9 -1.4 1.1 0.1 -1.0 0.3 -3.5 -1.1 1.2 0.1 -1.4 0.3 -2.3 -1.7 1.1 0.1 6.4

15.1

3.1

1.7

1.9

Dec Annual Jan 0.1 1.4 0.1 0.1 1.8 0.1 0.0 1.6 0.1 0.0 2.0 0.1 0.0 1.2 0.0

0.2

0.2

1.1

2015 Feb Mar 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.4 0.2 0.4 0.2 0.4 0.2 0.3

Apr 0.4 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.4

May 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.6 0.3

0.2

0.3

0.2

0.2

0.2

1. Upscale area of Southern Seoul 2. Northern Seoul Source: Korea Appraisal Board

Apartment rental prices rose 0.4 percent month-on-month nationwide in May. Rental prices rose 0.7 percent in the Seoul metropolitan area and 0.2 percent in regions excluding the Seoul metropolitan area.

Apartment rental price increase in major districts in Seoul (m-o-m, %) Gangnam (0.9), Seocho (0.8), Songpa (1.0), Gangdong (0.9), Nowon (1.1)

Nationwide apartment rental prices 2010 Annual 7.1 6.3 6.4 7.6 5.1

Nationwide Seoul metropolitan area Seoul Gangnam¹ Gangbuk² Areas excluding the Seoul metropolitan area

9.2

(Percentage change from previous period)

2011 2012 2013 2014 Annual Annual Annual Annual Nov Dec Annual Jan 12.3 3.5 4.7 3.4 0.3 0.3 2.1 0.3 11.0 2.1 6.2 4.7 0.4 0.3 3.1 0.4 10.8 2.1 6.6 3.6 0.3 0.3 2.8 0.3 11.1 2.4 6.7 3.3 0.3 0.3 3.4 0.4 10.6 1.8 6.4 3.8 0.3 0.2 2.2 0.2 14.5

4.6

3.3

2.2

0.2

0.2

1.2

0.2

2015 Feb Mar Apr May 0.3 0.5 0.6 0.4 0.5 0.7 0.9 0.7 0.5 0.6 0.8 0.6 0.6 0.7 1.0 0.7 0.3 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.2

0.3

0.3

0.2

1. Upscale area of Southern Seoul 2. Northern Seoul Source: Korea Appraisal Board

Apartment rental prices by region Source: Korea Appraisal Board 3

(m-o-m, %)

2

1

0

-1

-2 2009.1

Nationwide

7

2010.1

7

2001.1

7

2012.1

Seoul metropolitan area

7

2013.1

7

2014.1

7

2015.1

Areas excluding Seoul metropolitan area

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ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

Apartment sales transactions in May rose 40.5 percent year-on-year to 109,874 transactions, the highest May data since 2006.

Apartment sales transactions

(Thousands)

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Annual1 Annual1 Annual1 Annual1 Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May 67

Nationwide

82

61

71

90

93

78

74

77

76

87 109 91

91

79

79 112 120 110

1. Monthly average Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

Monthly apartment transaction volume 160

Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

(thousands)

140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 2009.1

7

2010.1

7

Nationwide

2011.1

7

2012.1

7

2013.1

Seoul metropolitan area

7

2014.1

7

2015.1

Areas excluding Seoul metropolitan area

12.2 Land market Land prices rose 0.20 percent month-on-month nationwide in April.

Land price growth accelerated in the Seoul metropolitan area (up 0.19%), which includes Seoul (up 0.23%) and Incheon (up 0.20%).

Land price increase in Seoul metropolitan area (m-o-m, %) 0.19 (Sep 2014) → 0.20 (Oct) → 0.14 (Nov) → 0.14 (Dec) → 0.14 (Jan 2015) → 0.15 (Feb) → 0.17 (Mar) → 0.19 (Apr)

Land price growth decelerated in areas excluding the Seoul metropolitan area (up 0.21%), which include Busan (up 0.26%) and Daegu (up 0.30%).

Land price increase in areas excluding Seoul metropolitan area (m-o-m, %) 0.18 (Sep 2014) → 0.20 (Oct) → 0.18 (Nov) → 0.20 (Dec) → 0.15 (Jan 2015) → 0.15 (Feb) → 0.22 (Mar) → 0.21 (Apr)

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The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

Land prices by region

(Percentage change from previous period)

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Annual Annual Annual Annual Annual Q4 Annual Q1 Q2

Q3

Q4 Annual Q1

2015 Feb Mar

Apr

Nationwide

0.96 1.05

1.17

0.96

1.14 0.46 1.96 0.45 0.48 0.49 0.53

0.68 0.48 0.15 0.19 0.20

Seoul

1.40 0.53

0.97

0.38

1.21 0.61 2.66 0.69 0.59 0.69 0.67

0.80 0.57 0.18 0.21 0.23

Gyeonggi

1.22 1.49

1.47

1.04

0.91 0.35 1.24 0.26 0.37 0.27 0.33

0.50 0.35 0.11 0.13 0.15

Incheon

1.99 1.43

0.66

0.46

0.87 0.23 1.35 0.37 0.25 0.32 0.40

0.57 0.37 0.12 0.13 0.20

Source: Korea Appraisal Board

There were 293,000 land transactions in April, up 5.3 percent from the previous month and up 25.8 percent from 233,000 a year earlier.

Land transactions rose nationwide, led by Seoul (up 8.3%, m-o-m), Busan (up 11.9%, m-o-m), Ulsan (up 36.9%, m-o-m), Sejong (up 25.8%, m-o-m) and North Gyeongsang Province (up 10.6%, m-o-m).

Vacant land transactions, which accounted for 35.3 percent of total land transactions, rose 4.7 percent monthon-month to 103,000 and were up 12.7 percent from 92,000 a year earlier.

Land transactions

(Land lots, thousands)

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Annual1 Annual1 Annual1 Annual1 Annual1 Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr Nationwide 187 208 170 187 220 233 207 199 219 204 214 258 228 257 219 199 278 293 Seoul 16 18 13 17 22 22 18 18 21 21 23 29 25 23 20 21 33 36 Gyeonggi 41 43 33 37 46 49 42 39 45 42 46 57 50 53 45 43 62 66 Incheon 8 10 8 8 10 11 9 9 8 9 10 13 11 9 8 8 12 13 1. Monthly average Source: Korea Land & Housing Corporation

Land transaction volume 500,000

Source: Korea Appraisal Board

(thousand m²)

400,000

300,000

200,000

100,000

0 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

Seoul metropolitan area

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

Areas excluding Seoul metropolitan area

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ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

13. Composite indices of business cycle indicators Industrial output in April declined 0.3 percent month-on-month but rose 0.7 percent year-on-year. Output fell in mining & manufacturing (down 1.2%, m-o-m), construction (down 2.6%, m-o-m) and public administration (down 1.5%, m-o-m), but rose in services (up 0.5%, m-o-m).

Index of all industry production 20

Source: Statistics Korea (industrial activity trends)

(%)

15 10 5 0 -5 -10 -15 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

Index of all industry production (m-o-m)

Index of all industry production (m-o-m, %) (y-o-y, %) Coincident composite index (2010=100) (m-o-m, %) Cyclical indicator of coincident composite index (m-o-m, p) Leading composite index (2010=100) (m-o-m, %) Cyclical indicator of leading composite index (m-o-m, p)

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

Index of all industry production(y-o-y)

Sep -0.7 1.8 121.8 0.2 100.2 -0.2 123.6 1.0 101.0 0.6

2014 Oct Nov 0.4 -0.1 0.2 -0.5 121.9 122.2 0.1 0.2 99.9 99.8 -0.3 -0.1 124.4 124.9 0.6 0.5 101.2 101.1 0.2 -0.1

Dec 1.3 2.1 123.1 0.7 100.1 0.3 125.9 0.7 101.5 0.4

Jan -1.9 0.6 123.6 0.4 100.1 0.0 127.8 1.5 102.5 1.0

Feb1 2.2 0.6 124.4 0.6 100.5 0.4 129.0 0.9 103.1 0.6

2015 Mar1 -0.5 2.0 124.7 0.2 100.3 -0.2 130.5 1.2 103.8 0.7

Apr1 -0.3 0.7 125.1 0.3 100.3 0.0 131.1 0.5 103.8 0.0

1. Preliminary

The cyclical indicator of the coincident composite index was unchanged from the previous month. Mining & manufacturing production, service output, retail sales and domestic shipments rose month-on-month, while the value of construction completed, imports and nonfarm payroll employment declined.

Components of the coincident composite index in April (m-o-m) mining & manufacturing production (0.3%), service output (0.4%), retail sales (1.2%), domestic shipments (0.9%), value of construction completed (-1.6%), imports (-1.2%), nonfarm payroll employment (0.0%)

40

The Green Book : Current Economic Trends

Cyclical indicator of coincident composite index

Source: Statistics Korea (industrial activity trends)

110 (points)

100

90 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

The cyclical indicator of the leading composite index was also unchanged from the previous month. The consumer expectations index, value of construction orders received, international commodity prices and KOSPI rose, while the inventory circulation indicator, domestic shipments of machinery, ratio of export to import prices, ratio of job openings to job seekers and spreads between long & short term interest rates fell.

Components of the leading composite index in April (m-o-m) consumer expectations index (0.3p), value of construction orders received (2.3%), international commodity prices (0.3%), KOSPI (3.2%), inventory circulation indicator (-1.4%p), domestic shipments of machinery (-0.5%), ratio of export to import prices (-0.1%), ratio of job openings to job seekers (-2.3%p), spreads between long & short term interest rates (-0.01%p)

Cyclical indicator of leading composite index

Source: Statistics Korea (industrial activity trends)

110 (points)

100

90 2004.1

2005.1

2006.1

2007.1

2008.1

2009.1

2010.1

2011.1

2012.1

2013.1

2014.1

2015.1

41

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

Deputy Prime Minister Choi in London, seeking Financial Market Innovation

Featured Issue

42

Featured Issue

Deputy Prime Minister Choi in London, Seeking Financial Market Innovation After attending the 2015 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting in Paris, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Kyung Hwan traveled to London to hold an investor relations (IR) meeting. He also met with the Lord Mayor of London Alan Yarrow and the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne while in London.

promoting service industries and the creative economy, and pursuing economic expansion through FTAs and Korean foreign investment. He added that the Korean government is actively preparing for midto long-term challenges, in particular low birth rates and an aging population, and reunification.

Deputy Prime Minster Choi held an IR meeting in London on June 5. The London meeting was aimed at building up investor trust in the Korean economy at a time when uncertainties are increasing in the global financial market, including ones related to the Fed’s rate hike. Over 60 financial professionals, such as representatives of credit rating agencies, investment bankers, economists, journalists and institutional investors, attended the meeting. During the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister gave a presentation and responded to questions from the audience.

In a subsequent question and answer session, the Deputy Prime Minister responded to questions from the audience. When asked about additional fiscal and monetary policies, he said that the Korean economy has enough room for additional fiscal or monetary policies given its fiscal soundness and interest rate levels, and with economic indicators showing mixed signals, the government will decide on additional policies after closely reviewing developments. In regard to the weakening yen, he said that the won has been strengthening against the yen amid the rising dollar as the won’s depreciation against the dollar is slower compared with other currencies, and that the government is working on promoting Korean foreign investment as the country has large current account surpluses. Regarding young adult employment, he said the government is providing support for creating young adult jobs while pursuing reforms to correct mismatches in the job market, in addition to implementing the peak wage system starting in 2016, which guarantees retirement at the age of 60 and creates young adult jobs at the same time. Being

The Deputy Prime Minister gave a presentation titled, ‘Korean Economy: Geared up and Ready’, in which he said the Korean economy is well prepared for external risks as its external soundness and macroeconomic performance indicators are strong, financial markets are stable, and the economy has sufficient room for fiscal and monetary policies. He also said the Korean economy is carrying out growthfriendly policies, which include structural reforms in the labor, financial, public and education sectors,

43

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

Deputy Prime Minister Choi Kyung Hwan (middle right) holds talks with UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (middle left) at 11 Downing Street in London on June 4.

asked about foreign currency-denominated sovereign bonds, the Deputy Prime Minister stated that the government will decide on foreign currencydenominated bond issuance in the second half of the year, taking into account Korea’s plan to become a yuan trading hub.

The Deputy Prime Minister also met with Lord Mayor of London Alan Yarrow. At the talk, he lauded the UK’s “big bang” financial reforms of the 1980s for having helped raise the competitiveness of the UK financial industry and said that the Korean financial sector should benefit from such reforms. In response, the Lord Mayor gave his support for and offered his advice on financial industry reform stressing the importance of a flexible labor market, performance-based compensation, promoting venture capital as well as the need for government efforts to control risk and encourage creative investment. The two leaders also agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation regarding internationalization of the yuan currency, as both Seoul and London plan to develop yuan currency hubs, and Deputy Prime Minister Choi expressed hope for more

jointly financed projects in other countries by Korean and UK financial actors and improved access to each other’s financial markets.

In a separate meeting held on June 4, the Deputy Prime Minister met with the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and compared previous UK structural reform policies, which required hard work and were unpopular but ultimately proved beneficial to the economy, with the Korean government’s current reform efforts, which include the Three-year Plan for Economic Innovation and structural reforms in four major areas. The two leaders agreed about the difficulty of implementing reform policies, and Minister Osborne proposed strengthening bilateral cooperation, including sharing policy experience and information, so that both countries’ reform policies could produce substantive results. The two ministers also agreed to work together in fulfilling the commitments from the 2013 Korea-UK summit meeting1, developing yuan hubs in Seoul and London as well as in establishing the operational framework and management structure of the AIIB.

1) Both countries agreed to ① double trade and direct investment by 2020, ② support joint access to markets in other countries (The Export-Import Bank of Korea and UK Export Finance signed an MOU), ③ increase access and connectivity between their financial markets, ④ cooperate regarding the creative economy and ⑤ work together in responding to climate change.

44

Policy Issue

Economic Policies for the Second Half of 2015

Policy Issue

45

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

Economic Policies for the Second Half of 2015 I. Evaluation for the first half of 2015 In the first half of 2015, the government pursued structural reforms in the four areas of the labor, financial, public and education sectors, while revitalizing the economy through expansionary macroeconomic policies. The government also adopted measures to expand private as well as public sector investment in the first quarter.

These efforts led to modest recovery, especially in domestic demand. Real economic indicators, such as consumption, services and construction investment, improved amid low oil prices, low interest rates and recovery in the property and stock markets. As household income increases1, economic sentiment improved as well.

However, recovery in production and investment remains weak due to sluggish exports, and in the meantime, the recent Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak has given unexpected shocks to the economy. The outbreak is eroding economic sentiment, having a negative impact on consumption and the service industry.

Against this backdrop, it is crucial to accelerate

structural reforms and spur economic recovery. The government will work hard for the reforms to produce tangible results in order to put the economy back on track and will address new policy issues, such as unforeseen shocks, weak exports and young adult employment.

II. Economic policies for the second half of 2015 The government will continue to focus on stimulating the economy and reforming the 4 areas2 in the second half of 2015, while properly responding to the fallout from MERS. Economic stimulation policies for the second half cover measures specific to multiple areas in addition to expansionary macroeconomic approaches.

- T he government will implement expansionary macroeconomic policies including fiscal stimulus to help the economy absorb shocks from the MERS outbreak and avoid a slow growth-low inflation trap.

- Employment policies will be made young adult-friendly to avoid any impact from extending retirement to an older age, which will be implemented in 2016.

1) Real household income (y-o-y, %): 1.1 (Q2, 2014) → 1.6 (Q3) → 1.4 (Q4) → 2.0 (Q1, 2015) 2) Labor market, public sector, financial sector and education sector

46

Policy Issue

- T he government will help exporters strengthen competitiveness and create new markets, will increase investment in leading and strategic industries, and will promote tourism and ventures.

- The government will help increase competitiveness of self-employed businesses and reduce basic living costs in order to raise household disposable income, while strengthening support for their asset building as well as reinforcing financial support for them.

- The government will prepare for risks in the financial sector, including the household debt, as well as external risks, while addressing comparatively long-term risks, such as low birth rates and an aging population.

Reforming in the 4 areas will persistently be pursued with a focus on performance.

- The government will draw up the 2nd round of labor market reform.

- Regarding public sector reform, the government will redefine the functions of public institutions and establish rules about fiscal spending.

- The government will focus on further promoting capital market development and improving foreign exchange-related regulations.

- Education sector reform will be directed towards equipping students with skills which are in demand by industries.

III. Polices in detail by area III-1. Stimulating measures in 6 areas 1. Economic stimulus To help the economy rebound and break free from the vicious cycle of slow growth and low inflation, the government will - p rovide sufficient fiscal stimulus, including supplementary budget worth more than 15 trillion won

- encourage local governments to increase spending by 3 trillion won, while providing more incentives - maintain accommodative monetary policy - expand trade financing by 14 trillion won

2. Young adult employment To help increase young adult employment, the government will - create jobs in the public sector and work to add jobs to areas young adults favor, for example, culture and tourism industries, and startup ventures - improve training programs and introduce internship programs to leading medium-sized enterprises - adopt tax incentives for hiring young adults and promote job sharing between older and younger generations - produce detailed forecasts for mid- to long-term workforce demand - improve the current overseas employment support programs by reforming existing programs and developing region-specific strategies

3. Exports and investment To increase exports and investment, the government will - provide trade financing to help exporters enter new markets and develop new products - encourage companies to use opportunities the AIIB offers, and work on the establishment of an online marketplace which deals with Korean, Japanese and Chinese products - promote Korean foreign investment by exempting the investments from capital gains taxes and streamlining foreign exchange-related regulations - restructure the support given by the 30 trillion won Corporate Investment Promotion program, such as increasing support for equity financing and setting aside 2 trillion won to support investment in leading industries - create a Korea Infrastructure Investment Platform worth 10 trillion won to promote infrastructure investment

47

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

Deputy Prime Minister Choi Kyung Hwan announces the Economic Policies for the Second Half of 2015 at the Seoul Government Complex on June 25.

4. Consumer confidence

6. Risk management

The government will increase consumer confidence by - g iving companies tax credits when they change temporary employees to permanent employees - providing self-employed businesses with supports specific to their business development stages from market research and competitiveness building to credit guarantees and social safety nets - reducing basic living costs, including public utility fees - giving customs duty exemptions for imports worth US $150 or less and streamlining customs procedures

To prepare for risks that may negatively affect the economy, the government will - continue to manage household debt by increasing the portion of household debt with fixed interest rates and amortization schedules - create a joint public sector-creditor bank PEF to promote corporate restructuring in the market - extend capital gains tax incentives for investment in high risk corporate bonds - prepare the economy for risks from low birth rates and an aging population by expanding fertility and maternity support, providing customized childcare support and drawing up plans to develop silver industries

5. Working class support The government will help working classes create wealth by - introducing an individual savings account (ISA), a tax exempt account which allows deposits to be transferred between savings and investment - taxing total returns, instead of individual returns, when imposing capital gains taxes on balanced funds, so investors do not pay taxes when they lose money - increasing support for the Growing Hope Savings Account, which is designed to receive matching support for monthly deposits to encourage asset accumulation by basic social security recipients - lowering interest rates on policy-based loans taking account of market interest rates and funding costs

III-2. Reforming the 4 areas The government will continue to pursue reforms in the labor, financial, public and education sectors, with its focus on producing tangible outcomes.

1. Labor sector reform - The government will continue to work on the 1st Round Labor Market Reform, which includes promoting the peak wage system, increasing protection for temporary workers and helping find

48

Policy Issue

solutions to issues regarding ordinary wages and reduced work hours.

- The government will draw up the 2nd Round of Labor Market Reform, which will deal with improving human capital management, such as adopting performance-based management, and expanding unemployment benefits to the self-employed.

- T he government will pursue talks among the government, industry and labor so that its two rounds of labor market reforms can produce tangible results

- Nonbank financial institutions will be allowed to increase FX related services, and the government will designate international money transfers in small amounts as a new type of business.

- The government will accelerate the development of consumer-friendly financial services by introducing financial product sales and consultancy services, promoting online sales of insurance products and strengthening financial consumer protection and rights.

3. Public sector reform 2. Financial sector reform 2-1. Promote investment in ventures - The government will promote equity financing by increasing competition between the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets, and will announce related measures in July.

- The government will revise rules regarding riskweighted asset calculation to encourage securities and insurance companies to invest in ventures, while promoting venture investment by policy banks.

- Technology financing will be promoted as the government will require banks to extend technologybased loans, develop technology credit assessment tools and launch technology investment funds.

2-2. Streamline financial regulations - The government will examine existing financial regulations across-the-board, and make revisions in favor of reporting afterwards instead of beforehand and the negative approach instead of the positive approach.

- The government will support the launch of internet primary banks by easing regulations on shareholding requirements, encouraging participation by ICT enterprises and introducing an online ID certification system.

- The government will continue to pursue reforming public institutions with next round measures, in which performance-based reward systems will be more expansively implemented.

- The principle of ‘pay-go’3 will be made obligatory to tightly control fiscal expenditures.

- T he government will establish rules on fiscal expenditure to better regulate spending.

- The government will work to improve public pension fund management efficiency, while increasing fund management transparency and expertise regarding Post Office deposits.

4. Education sector reform - The government will launch a pilot vocational school which provides high school-college integrated education, will encourage universities to restructure their education programs based on demand from industries and will continue to promote work-study programs, all of which are aimed at developing the work force industries need.

- Educational subsidies given to local governments will be restructured in a way that takes the number of students into consideration more than the number of schools.

3) Pay-go requires new spending to be paid for by cuts to other projects or by raising new revenues

49

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

BOK Cuts Key Rate to 1.50% Labor Market Reform Plan Announced Korea Ranks 25th in IMD Competitiveness Rankings OECD Projects Growth Rate of 3.0% for Korea Korea, China Officially Sign FTA 2015 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting 7th Round Electricity Supply Plan Focuses on Stable Supply and Clean Energy Korea Grows 0.8% in Q1 (Preliminary)

Economic News Briefing

50

Economic News Briefing

Students at an elementary school in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, where the MERS outbreak forced many schools to close temporarily, wear masks on their way home on June 15. The Bank of Korea cut its benchmark interest rate on June 11, reflecting concerns over the MERS outbreak.

BOK Cuts Key Rate to 1.50% The Bank of Korea (BOK) lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to a record low of 1.50 percent on June 11, warning that sluggish exports and the recent MERS outbreak have increased risks to the economy. This is the fourth rate cut since August 2014.

BOK governor Lee Ju-Yeol said that the rate cut was a preemptive move against the negative impact of the MERS outbreak.

Labor Market Reform Plan Announced The government announced the 1st Round Labor Market Reform in five major areas in order to address job market participation issues between younger and older generations, unfair business practices by large corporations toward small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as working conditionrelated issues regarding permanent and temporary workers. The reforms aim to provide quality jobs for young adults, and improve job security for middleaged and older workers.

The five major areas include: creating jobs for young adults while improving job security for older workers, improving the business practices of main contractors toward subcontractors, reducing discrimination against temporary workers, reducing uncertainty regarding the definition of ordinary wages and reduced work hours, and improving management-labor relations.

Korea Ranks 25th in IMD Competitiveness Rankings Korea’s ranking in global competitiveness is up one notch this year compared to the previous year, accord ing to the 2015 ed ition o f th e World C o m p e t i t i v e n e s s Ye a r b o o k r e l e a s e d b y t h e International Institute for Management Development (IMD). Korea ranked 25th among 61 nations surveyed, and was seventh among the G20 nations.

Rankings for economic achievement (20th → 15th) and corporate efficiency (39th → 37th) rose, while rankings for government efficiency (26 th → 28 th ) and infrastructure (19th → 21st) dropped from the previous year. In the subcategories, Korea ranked high in employment, science infrastructure, domestic

51

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

economy and technology infrastructure, but received poor rankings in labor market, business-related laws, prices and corporate governance.

OECD Projects Growth Rate of 3.0% for Korea The Korean economy will expand 3.0 percent in 2015, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in its economic outlook report released on June 3. The latest figure is down from a previous forecast of 4.1 percent, reflecting sluggish private consumption and declining exports.

The organization expected the growth rate to improve to 3.6 percent in 2016, as exports rise owing to a recovery in world trade and consumption picks up due to lower oil prices and wage gains.

Korea, China Officially Sign FTA Korea and China officially signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on June 1. The deal makes Korea the only country that has FTAs with the world’s three

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Yoon Sang-Jick (right) shakes hands with China's Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng after signing the Korea-China FTA in Seoul on June 1.

largest economies―the US, EU and China. Seoul will eliminate tariffs on 92 percent of Chinese imports within the next 20 years, while China will scrap tariffs on 91 percent of items imported from Korea within the same period. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the economic benefits of the Korea-China FTA over the next 10 years include creating 53,805 new jobs and raising real gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.96 percent.

2015 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting The 2015 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM) was held in Paris, France on June 3-4, under the theme ‘unlocking investment for sustainable growth and jobs.’ During the meeting’s Economic Outlook session, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Kyung Hwan participated in a high-level panel discussion on ‘how structural reforms can help unlock investment in support of sustainable growth,’ where he emphasized the critical importance of an orderly and cooperative process for normalizing the unprecedentedly expansive monetary policies currently being implemented around the world, and urged the OECD to propose a plan on this issue. He also introduced reforms being undertaken by the Korean government in the labor, financial, public and education sectors to improve labor and capital efficiency.

7th Round Electricity Supply Plan Focuses on Stable Supply and Clean Energy The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the 7 th Round Electricity Supply plan, which focuses on ensuring a stable electricity supply and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In order to provide electricity in a stable manner regardless of fluctuating demand, which is often due to severe weather conditions, and to prepare for possible power

52

Economic News Briefing

station failure, the government will increase the nation’s power generating capacity. the government will also develop a more sophisticated demand forecasting method to ensure stable supply.

GDP growth rate was revised up to 2.5 percent from the advanced estimate of 2.4 percent.

On the production side, manufacturing grew 0.4 percent quarter-on-quarter, led by semiconductors and oil products, while construction grew 2.0 percent, led by residential housing construction. Services were up 0.9 percent, led by financial & insurance services, real estate & renting and healthcare & social welfare services.

In addition, the government will reduce fossil fuel power plants and build two nuclear reactors with a capacity of 1,500,000 kW each by 2029. The government aims to expand the share of electricity production from renewable sources from 3.7 percent in 2014 to 11.7 percent in 2029.

On the expenditure side, private consumption rose 0.6 percent, led by durable goods. Facility investment was up 0.2 percent, as gains in transportation equipment investment offset declines in machinery investment.

Construction investment rose 7.4 percent as both building construction and civil engineering works improved, while intellectual property investment rose 2.3 percent, led by R&D investment.

Korea Grows 0.8% in Q1 (Preliminary) Korea’s real GDP expanded 0.8 percent quarter-onquarter in the first quarter of 2015, according to preliminary data released by the BOK on June 4. The figure was unchanged from the advanced estimates that were released on April 23. Korea’s year-on-year

Exports rose 0.1 percent, led by semiconductors and chemical products, while imports rose 0.6 percent, led by crude oil, automobiles and overseas consumption.

GDP by production and expenditure*

(Percentage change from previous period)

20141

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

20151 Q1

GDP

0.6 (2.1)2

1.0 (2.7)2

0.9 (3.2)2

0.9 (3.5)2

1.1 (3.9)2

0.5 (3.4)2

0.8 (3.3)2

0.3 (2.7)2

0.8 (2.5)2

2013

Agriculture, forestry & fisheries

-2.0

0.7

4.1

3.3

-2.2

-2.0

2.0

2.8

3.4

Manufacturing

1.6

1.1

0.8

0.8

2.2

1.1

-0.9

0.0

0.4

Construction

2.0

1.5

0.1

-1.2

1.4

0.1

0.9

-3.0

2.0

Services3

0.5

1.2

0.8

0.7

0.9

0.3

1.2

0.6

0.9

Private consumption

-0.1

0.5

1.1

0.6

0.4

-0.4

0.8

0.5

0.6

Government consumption

1.2

1.9

0.7

0.4

0.1

0.6

2.1

0.2

0.2

Facility investment

2.7

0.9

3.5

4.2

-1.4

1.3

0.2

4.0

0.2

Construction investment

5.3

4.6

-0.8

-4.8

5.3

0.5

0.9

-7.8

7.4

Intellectual property investment

3.0

0.6

0.6

3.3

2.0

-0.1

-0.3

-0.5

2.3

Exports

0.2

2.3

-0.7

1.3

1.4

1.3

-1.7

0.4

0.1

Imports

0.7

1.5

0.0

2.9

-1.1

1.2

-0.7

0.7

0.6

*At 2010 chained prices in seasonally adjusted terms 1. Preliminary 2. Percentage change from the same period of the previous year (original data) 3. Wholesale & retail, hotels & restaurants, transportation & storage, communications services, financial & insurance services, real estate & renting, business services, public administration, defense & social security, education services, healthcare & social welfare services, entertainment, cultural & sports services and other services are included.

53

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

01. National accounts 02. Production, shipment and inventory 03. Production capacity and operation ratio 04. Consumer goods sales index 05. Consumer goods shipment index and consumer sentiment index 06. Machinery orders received and estimated facility investment index 07. Value of construction completed and domestic construction orders received 08. Composite indices of business cycle indicators and BSI 09. Balance of payments (I) 10. Balance of payments (II) 11. Prices 12. Employment 13. Financial indicators 14. Monetary indicators 15. Exchange rates

Statistical Appendices

54

Statistical Appendices

1. National accounts (year-on-year change, %, chained 2010 year prices)

Real GDP

Final consumption Agri., fores. & Manufacturing expenditure fisheries

Period

Gross fixed capital formation Construction

Facilities

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014P

5.2 5.5 2.8 0.7 6.5 3.7 2.3 2.9 3.3

1.6 4.1 5.6 3.2 -4.3 -2.0 -0.9 3.1 2.6

7.7 8.4 3.7 -0.5 13.7 6.5 2.4 3.6 4.0

5.2 5.3 2.2 1.3 4.3 2.7 2.2 2.2 2.0

3.6 5.0 -0.9 0.3 5.5 0.8 -0.5 3.3 3.1

0.7 1.5 -2.7 3.5 -3.7 -3.4 -3.9 5.5 1.0

8.4 9.7 -0.2 -7.7 22.0 4.7 0.1 -0.8 5.8

2006 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

6.3 4.7 2.1 4.8

4.1 -0.2 -1.3 4.2

9.6 7.4 8.2 6.1

5.9 5.1 4.7 5.0

3.0 0.7 4.3 5.9

1.7 -4.1 -0.3 5.4

4.6 8.8 13.5 6.8

2007 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

4.7 5.6 5.1 6.3

1.7 7.0 8.1 -0.6

6.5 8.6 7.4 10.9

5.2 5.6 5.5 5.0

6.6 6.3 2.1 5.2

3.8 2.0 0.0 0.9

10.3 14.2 2.1 12.2

2008 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

5.5 4.1 3.9 -1.6

7.7 4.6 4.3 6.4

8.2 7.1 6.1 -5.3

4.7 3.1 2.4 -1.4

1.8 0.9 2.3 -7.0

-2.0 -0.7 0.2 -7.3

7.0 1.4 5.6 -13.0

2009 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

-1.9 -1.1 0.9 4.8

2.5 0.0 5.0 5.0

-8.4 -5.7 1.6 10.4

-1.9 0.9 1.7 4.5

-5.4 -1.1 0.8 5.8

1.9 4.4 3.1 4.1

-19.4 -13.6 -5.9 9.5

2010 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

7.2 7.4 5.4 6.0

0.0 -2.2 -7.8 -5.7

16.1 17.2 10.1 11.9

6.2 3.6 3.9 3.4

12.0 6.8 3.8 1.2

1.6 -4.8 -4.8 -5.2

27.6 28.8 20.6 12.9

2011 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

4.9 3.6 3.3 3.1

-9.3 -2.5 -5.8 7.1

11.4 6.5 5.6 3.4

3.3 3.3 2.8 1.7

-0.7 2.5 1.7 -0.3

-8.2 -2.5 -2.2 -2.0

8.3 8.3 3.4 -0.9

2012 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

2.6 2.4 2.1 2.1

0.1 -1.8 0.0 -1.3

2.7 2.8 2.0 2.0

2.2 1.3 2.7 2.7

6.2 -2.2 -0.9 -3.6

-0.2 -5.3 -2.6 -6.4

11.0 -1.9 -4.2 -3.8

2013 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

2.1 2.7 3.2 3.5

-1.2 0.3 4.4 6.8

2.7 3.6 3.8 4.2

1.5 2.2 2.4 2.6

-3.2 4.3 4.9 6.5

1.3 8.9 7.4 3.5

-12.3 -3.2 2.3 11.6

2014PⅠ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

3.9 3.4 3.3 2.7

5.6 3.3 1.4 1.3

5.1 5.1 3.3 2.4

2.7 1.7 2.0 1.8

5.8 3.3 3.3 0.7

4.1 0.2 2.3 -1.5

7.2 7.7 4.2 4.2

2015PⅠ

2.5

6.3

0.7

1.9

2.4

0.6

5.8

P: Preliminary Source: The Bank of Korea

55

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

2. Production, shipment and inventory (constant prices, 2010=100)

Period

Production index

Shipment index

y-o-y change(%)

Inventory index

y-o-y change(%)

Service production index

y-o-y change(%)

y-o-y change(%)

2012 2013 2014

107.4 108.2 108.2

1.3 0.7 0.0

107.2 108.1 107.9

1.5 0.8 -0.2

125.2 130.7 128.4

4.4 4.4 -1.8

104.8 106.4 108.7

1.6 1.5 2.2

2012 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

106.6 108.9 103.7 110.6

3.9 1.3 -0.3 0.8

106.6 108.4 103.8 109.8

3.1 1.7 0.6 0.5

117.7 114.8 114.5 125.2

12.2 4.6 2.0 4.4

102.0 104.9 104.8 107.6

2.6 1.5 1.6 0.8

2013 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

106.0 109.3 104.3 113.0

-0.6 0.4 0.6 2.2

106.1 109.4 104.5 112.2

-0.5 0.9 0.7 2.2

123.1 119.2 124.5 130.7

4.6 3.8 8.7 4.4

103.2 106.8 105.6 110.0

1.2 1.8 0.8 2.1

2014 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

106.7 109.8 105.5 110.9

0.7 0.5 1.2 -1.9

106.5 109.3 104.8 111.0

0.4 -0.1 0.3 -1.1

130.0 128.9 129.7 128.4

5.6 8.1 4.2 -1.8

105.3 108.4 108.3 112.9

2.0 1.5 2.6 2.6

2015 ⅠP

105.7

-0.9

105.9

-0.6

133.7

2.8

108.2

2.9

2013 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

111.2 97.3 109.6 109.5 110.6 107.8 108.0 103.9 101.1 113.3 112.2 113.4

9.0 -8.3 -1.8 2.5 -0.1 -1.3 1.9 3.6 -3.4 4.1 -0.4 2.8

110.0 98.2 110.2 109.3 110.3 108.6 107.1 104.9 101.4 112.6 111.4 112.6

7.0 -7.4 -0.7 2.9 0.4 -0.5 1.8 5.0 -4.5 4.1 0.4 2.3

128.6 124.6 123.1 120.7 121.7 119.2 124.0 123.5 124.5 126.3 129.1 130.7

7.8 6.1 4.6 3.6 3.0 3.8 7.5 3.5 8.7 8.8 6.4 4.4

102.4 100.4 106.7 105.6 107.7 107.0 105.6 105.7 105.4 107.8 107.4 114.7

2.1 0.5 0.9 2.7 1.6 1.0 0.8 1.7 -0.3 2.9 1.8 1.8

2014 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

106.2 101.0 112.9 112.4 108.4 108.5 112.3 101.2 103.1 109.8 108.3 114.7

-4.5 3.8 3.0 2.6 -2.0 0.6 4.0 -2.6 2.0 -3.1 -3.5 1.1

105.1 101.3 113.1 111.3 108.7 107.8 109.5 101.7 103.2 109.0 109.2 114.9

-4.5 3.2 2.6 1.8 -1.5 -0.7 2.2 -3.1 1.8 -3.2 -2.0 2.0

132.1 129.3 130.0 131.2 130.0 128.9 133.2 130.6 129.7 130.7 129.7 128.4

2.7 3.8 5.6 8.7 6.8 8.1 7.4 5.7 4.2 3.5 0.5 -1.8

104.7 101.8 109.4 106.9 108.8 109.6 108.7 107.9 108.3 110.6 109.8 118.4

2.2 1.4 2.5 1.2 1.0 2.4 2.9 2.1 2.8 2.6 2.2 3.2

2015 1 2 3P 4P

108.1 96.0 112.9 109.4

1.8 -5.0 0.0 -2.7

108.1 96.6 113.0 109.6

2.9 -4.6 -0.1 -1.5

132.4 133.0 133.7 135.0

0.2 2.9 2.8 2.9

107.1 104.6 113.0 111.3

2.4 2.8 3.3 4.1

P: Preliminary Source: Statistics Korea

56

Statistical Appendices

3. Production capacity and operation ratio Period

Production capacity index (2010=100)

Operation ratio index (2010=100)

y-o-y change (%)

y-o-y change (%)

Average operation ratio (%)

2012 2013 2014

106.9 108.6 110.3

2.1 1.6 1.6

97.5 95.1 94.2

-2.7 -2.5 -0.9

78.6 76.5 76.1

2012 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

106.3 106.7 107.0 107.5

2.7 2.1 1.9 1.8

97.5 101.0 93.2 98.3

-0.3 -2.4 -4.6 -3.5

79.9 79.5 76.6 78.0

2013 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

108.1 108.3 108.8 109.3

1.7 1.5 1.7 1.7

93.7 97.9 90.8 98.3

-3.9 -3.1 -2.6 0.0

77.3 76.1 75.4 77.0

2014 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

109.6 109.9 110.6 111.0

1.4 1.5 1.7 1.6

92.8 96.8 91.5 95.8

-1.0 -1.1 0.8 -2.5

77.1 76.1 76.0 75.1

2015 ⅠP

111.2

1.5

90.1

-2.9

74.3

2013 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

108.0 108.1 108.1 108.1 108.3 108.5 108.6 108.9 108.9 109.1 109.2 109.6

1.7 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.8 1.6 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.9

98.9 84.9 97.2 97.9 99.4 96.3 94.6 90.7 87.0 99.7 98.2 96.9

6.9 -12.7 -5.5 -1.0 -3.1 -5.0 -2.7 2.7 -7.5 1.6 -2.5 0.8

78.8 77.3 75.9 75.8 76.4 76.2 74.7 76.8 74.8 77.0 76.5 77.4

2014 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

109.7 109.5 109.7 109.6 109.9 110.1 110.4 110.7 110.8 110.9 110.9 111.1

1.6 1.3 1.5 1.4 1.5 1.5 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.6 1.4

91.9 87.5 99.0 99.8 95.6 94.9 98.7 86.8 88.9 95.8 94.1 97.6

-7.1 3.1 1.9 1.9 -3.8 -1.5 4.3 -4.3 2.2 -3.9 -4.2 0.7

77.8 76.3 77.2 77.2 74.9 76.3 77.9 74.7 75.4 74.2 74.6 76.6

2015 1 2 3P 4P

111.1 111.0 111.4 111.1

1.3 1.4 1.5 1.4

93.0 81.1 96.2 95.6

1.2 -7.3 -2.8 -4.2

74.1 75.1 73.8 73.9

P: Preliminary Source: The Bank of Korea

57

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

4. Consumer goods sales index (constant prices, 2010=100)

Period

y-o-y change (%)

Consumer goods sales index Durable goods Semi-durable goods y-o-y y-o-y change (%) change (%)

Nondurable goods y-o-y change (%)

2012 2013 2014

107.1 107.9 109.7

2.5 0.7 1.7

116.3 116.6 122.6

5.4 0.3 5.1

103.9 106.1 105.5

-0.3 2.1 -0.6

104.3 104.7 105.5

2.2 0.4 0.8

2012 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

103.5 106.5 106.7 111.8

2.9 1.5 2.9 2.7

109.4 115.0 118.5 122.1

4.0 2.7 6.5 8.4

99.0 105.6 92.4 118.4

0.6 -0.4 -2.2 0.5

102.8 103.0 107.5 104.1

3.3 1.9 3.1 0.8

2013 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

103.8 107.7 107.2 113.0

0.3 1.1 0.5 1.1

111.0 118.2 116.8 120.3

1.5 2.8 -1.4 -1.5

102.1 107.3 94.9 119.9

3.1 1.6 2.7 1.3

101.2 102.9 108.0 106.6

-1.6 -0.1 0.5 2.4

2014 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

106.3 108.6 108.8 115.1

2.4 0.8 1.5 1.9

117.2 121.2 123.4 128.6

5.6 2.5 5.7 6.9

100.3 104.9 96.2 120.4

-1.8 -2.2 1.4 0.4

103.8 104.3 107.5 106.5

2.6 1.4 -0.5 -0.1

2015 ⅠP

108.0

1.6

126.6

8.0

98.8

-1.5

103.4

-0.4

2013 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

104.6 99.5 107.3 105.4 110.9 106.8 109.2 104.5 107.8 111.3 113.2 114.6

-2.8 1.6 2.1 2.2 0.6 0.6 0.7 2.0 -1.4 2.0 1.3 0.1

112.3 105.9 114.8 115.1 119.7 119.9 127.5 116.2 106.8 120.5 120.2 120.1

4.7 -1.2 0.9 7.2 2.0 -0.2 1.4 1.8 -7.8 2.9 -2.4 -4.7

102.8 93.3 110.2 106.7 113.8 101.3 98.0 86.6 100.1 113.9 123.8 122.1

-1.9 1.5 9.8 1.7 2.2 0.9 0.6 5.4 2.6 -0.8 4.1 0.4

101.7 99.3 102.5 100.3 105.5 103.0 105.6 106.8 111.6 105.8 105.3 108.8

-6.7 3.2 -0.6 0.0 -0.8 0.7 0.4 0.8 0.3 2.8 1.9 2.6

2014 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

110.4 99.1 109.3 105.6 112.1 108.1 109.9 107.1 109.3 111.1 114.3 119.9

5.5 -0.4 1.9 0.2 1.1 1.2 0.6 2.5 1.4 -0.2 1.0 4.6

116.1 116.9 118.5 114.2 121.8 127.5 131.1 118.5 120.5 118.9 128.7 138.1

3.4 10.4 3.2 -0.8 1.8 6.3 2.8 2.0 12.8 -1.3 7.1 15.0

100.7 92.0 108.2 105.8 111.8 97.2 95.7 91.5 101.5 116.0 120.6 124.7

-2.0 -1.4 -1.8 -0.8 -1.8 -4.0 -2.3 5.7 1.4 1.8 -2.6 2.1

111.9 93.9 105.5 101.5 107.7 103.7 106.3 108.6 107.5 105.4 104.9 109.3

10.0 -5.4 2.9 1.2 2.1 0.7 0.7 1.7 -3.7 -0.4 -0.4 0.5

2015 1 2 3P 4P

107.3 104.4 112.3 110.8

-2.8 5.3 2.7 4.9

128.2 117.2 134.5 129.3

10.4 0.3 13.5 13.2

97.9 92.6 105.8 108.1

-2.8 0.7 -2.2 2.2

101.7 103.6 104.8 103.3

-9.1 10.3 -0.7 1.8

P: Preliminary Source: Statistics Korea

58

Statistical Appendices

5. Consumer goods shipment index and consumer sentiment index Domestic consumer goods shipment index (2010=100) Durable goods Nondurable goods y-o-y y-o-y y-o-y change (%) change (%) change (%)

Period

Consumer sentiment index

2012 2013 2014

102.5 102.2 101.8

1.6 -0.3 -0.4

102.8 103.4 102.6

2.5 0.6 -0.8

102.4 101.7 101.5

1.2 -0.7 -0.2

-

2012 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

100.8 99.9 103.5 106.0

-0.2 2.0 2.0 2.6

97.8 99.1 102.5 112.0

-1.7 -1.6 1.6 11.9

102.0 100.2 103.9 103.4

0.4 3.5 2.2 -1.1

-

2013 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

103.0 98.7 102.4 104.7

2.2 -1.2 -1.1 -1.2

108.3 100.9 102.6 101.8

10.7 1.8 0.1 -9.1

100.8 97.7 102.3 105.9

-1.2 -2.5 -1.5 2.4

-

2014 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

100.7 100.3 102.4 103.9

-2.2 1.6 0.0 -0.8

103.4 103.0 100.9 103.2

-4.5 2.1 -1.7 1.4

99.5 99.2 103.0 104.2

-1.3 1.5 0.7 -1.6

-

2015 ⅠP

101.8

1.1

99.9

-3.4

102.5

3.0

-

2013 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

108.8 96.9 103.3 99.5 99.7 96.9 103.4 104.0 99.7 108.8 102.9 102.3

8.2 -1.7 0.2 0.3 -1.9 -2.0 0.6 2.5 -6.0 2.1 -2.6 -3.2

110.3 106.4 108.1 98.1 101.7 102.8 109.0 103.8 94.9 104.4 103.1 97.8

19.2 8.2 5.5 4.3 1.3 0.0 3.5 5.5 -8.7 -3.8 -7.0 -16.1

108.1 92.9 101.3 100.0 98.8 94.4 101.1 104.2 101.7 110.7 102.8 104.2

3.9 -5.9 -1.9 -1.3 -3.2 -3.0 -0.7 1.3 -5.0 4.7 -0.7 3.1

102 102 104 102 104 105 105 105 102 106 107 107

2014 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

102.4 96.6 103.0 101.7 99.8 99.5 104.8 100.2 102.2 105.0 100.9 105.8

-5.9 -0.3 -0.3 2.2 0.1 2.7 1.4 -3.7 2.5 -3.5 -1.9 3.4

99.9 106.7 103.6 97.9 103.4 107.7 107.6 95.0 100.1 99.8 102.9 106.8

-9.4 0.3 -4.2 -0.2 1.7 4.8 -1.3 -8.5 5.5 -4.4 -0.2 9.2

103.4 92.3 102.8 103.3 98.2 96.1 103.7 102.4 103.0 107.3 100.0 105.4

-4.3 -0.6 1.5 3.3 -0.6 1.8 2.6 -1.7 1.3 -3.1 -2.7 1.2

109 108 108 108 105 107 105 107 107 105 103 101

2015 1 2 3P 4P 5

104.8 94.5 106.0 105.6 -

2.3 -2.2 2.9 3.8 -

101.2 92.8 105.7 107.5 -

1.3 -13.0 2.0 9.8 -

106.3 95.2 106.1 104.8 -

2.8 3.1 3.2 1.5 -

102 103 101 104 105

P: Preliminary Source: Statistics Korea

59

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

6. Machinery orders received and estimated facility investment index Domestic machinery orders received excluding ship (billion won, constant value) Total Public Private Estimated facility investment index y-o-y y-o-y y-o-y y-o-y change (%) (2010=100) change (%) change (%) change (%)

Period 2012 2013 2014

21,648 23,078 26,485

-13.9 6.6 14.8

2,142 2,580 5,012

-11.0 20.5 94.2

19,506 20,497 21,473

-14.2 5.1 4.8

100.6 99.8 105.0

-2.8 -0.8 5.2

2012 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

6,310 5,391 5,036 4,910

-1.1 -19.8 -11.1 -23.0

810 285 579 468

126.1 -59.7 86.7 -54.6

5,500 5,106 4,458 4,442

-8.7 -15.1 -16.8 -16.9

105.0 104.8 96.2 96.4

8.2 -4.2 -7.9 -6.4

2013 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

5,587 5,865 5,144 6,481

-11.5 8.8 2.1 32.0

429 554 522 1,075

-47.0 94.2 -9.7 129.7

5,158 5,311 4,622 5,406

-6.2 4.0 3.7 21.7

91.7 101.1 99.3 107.0

-12.7 -3.5 3.2 11.0

2014 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

6,624 6,099 7,687 6,075

18.5 4.0 49.4 -6.3

1,221 305 2,708 778

184.6 -45.0 418.5 -27.6

5,403 5,794 4,979 5,297

4.7 9.1 7.7 -2.0

98.6 107.9 100.8 112.8

7.5 6.7 1.5 5.4

2015 ⅠP

6,451

-2.6

405

-66.9

6,046

11.9

106.7

8.2

2013 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1,844 1,666 2,078 1,846 2,127 1,893 1,934 1,622 1,588 2,604 2,094 1,783

-4.6 -34.5 13.2 0.0 16.2 10.3 5.4 7.5 -6.2 72.3 26.5 2.3

139 168 121 92 250 212 359 92 71 788 163 124

169.8 -75.8 92.2 63.8 542.9 11.5 15.8 -45.5 -28.5 815.5 28.2 -51.4

1,704 1,497 1,957 1,753 1,877 1,681 1,575 1,530 1,517 1,816 1,931 1,659

-9.4 -18.9 10.4 -2.0 4.8 10.2 3.3 14.2 -4.8 27.4 26.3 11.5

90.1 83.9 101.0 98.7 102.1 102.5 108.4 100.6 88.8 109.6 101.9 109.4

-7.8 -23.1 -6.7 -7.1 -3.5 0.2 2.8 11.7 -4.6 16.0 10.3 7.0

2014 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1,748 1,847 3,029 2,276 1,826 1,997 1,779 4,090 1,818 1,932 2,303 1,840

-5.2 10.9 45.8 23.3 -14.1 5.5 -8.0 152.2 14.5 -25.8 10.0 3.2

88 120 1,013 97 116 92 89 2,541 79 211 428 139

-36.9 -28.8 735.6 5.1 -53.4 -56.7 -75.3 2,653.2 10.6 -73.2 162.6 12.5

1,660 1,727 2,016 2,179 1,709 1,906 1,690 1,549 1,739 1,722 1,874 1,701

-2.6 15.3 3.0 24.3 -8.9 13.4 7.3 1.3 14.7 -5.2 -2.9 2.5

90.3 95.6 109.8 110.6 108.3 104.9 111.4 90.7 100.2 99.8 112.5 126.0

0.2 13.9 8.7 12.1 6.1 2.3 2.8 -9.8 12.8 -8.9 10.4 15.2

2015 1 2 3P 4P

2,324 1,856 2,271 2,774

32.9 0.5 -25.0 21.9

116 141 148 127

32.0 17.6 -85.4 31.4

2,208 1,715 2,124 2,647

33.0 -0.7 5.4 21.5

102.7 98.6 118.7 113.7

13.7 3.1 8.1 2.8

P: Preliminary Source: Statistics Korea

60

Statistical Appendices

7. Value of construction completed and domestic construction orders received (current value, billion won)

Period

Value of construction completed y-o-y (Total) change (%)

Type of order Public Private

Domestic construction orders y-o-y received change (%) y-o-y change (%) (Total)

y-o-y change (%)

Type of order Public Private y-o-y change (%)

y-o-y change (%)

2012 2013 2014

88,713 98,089 98,465

-3.3 10.6 0.4

33,807 34,459 32,004

-3.7 1.9 -7.1

50,622 59,714 62,403

-2.0 18.0 4.5

89,395 77,885 89,833

-6.2 -12.9 15.3

26,071 24,736 26,497

-8.9 -5.1 7.1

59,811 50,947 61,321

-3.3 -14.8 20.4

2012 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

19,275 22,410 21,351 25,676

0.0 -6.8 -0.3 -4.8

7,442 8,892 7,598 9,876

1.6 -4.3 -1.1 -8.8

10,893 12,440 12,676 14,613

-1.2 -6.7 0.6 -0.6

22,671 25,732 18,395 22,596

38.8 1.6 -10.0 -32.0

5,655 5,570 5,401 9,443

37.3 -11.7 -19.5 -17.8

16,309 19,100 12,522 11,877

46.8 8.2 -2.7 -41.2

2013 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

20,178 25,760 23,718 28,732

4.7 14.9 11.1 10.7

6,998 9,318 8,058 10,085

-6.0 4.8 6.0 2.1

12,415 15,455 14,739 17,106

14.0 24.2 16.3 17.1

13,826 18,694 16,833 28,532

-39.0 -27.4 -8.5 26.3

4,292 5,371 4,987 10,086

-24.1 -3.6 -7.7 6.8

9,180 12,636 11,442 17,688

-43.7 -33.8 -8.6 48.9

2014 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

21,675 26,174 23,601 27,016

7.4 1.6 -0.5 -5.0

7,147 8,706 7,243 8,909

2.1 -6.6 -10.1 -11.7

13,676 16,512 15,360 16,855

10.2 6.8 4.2 -1.5

15,972 23,436 24,035 26,390

15.5 25.4 42.8 -7.5

5,898 6,577 5,190 8,833

37.4 22.5 4.1 -12.4

9,628 16,537 18,175 16,982

4.9 30.9 58.8 -4.0

2015 ⅠP

21,258

-1.9

6,555

-8.3

13,956

2.0

24,419

52.9

4,576

-22.4

19,595 103.5

2013 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

6,272 6,236 7,670 81,057 81,607 94,947 7,854 7,666 8,199 8,637 9,088 10,708

8.2 3.3 3.0 18.4 11.7 15.0 11.6 16.5 6.0 17.6 12.2 4.6

2,072 2,346 2,581 2,830 2,797 3,691 2,635 2,553 2,870 2,952 3,118 4,015

-2.4 -1.1 -12.4 7.0 -2.7 9.4 11.1 10.0 -1.2 13.9 3.8 -6.2

3,962 3,662 4,790 4,978 5,088 5,389 4,908 4,827 5,004 5,344 5,635 6,126

17.4 7.5 16.4 27.5 23.9 21.6 14.7 22.4 12.4 20.0 18.1 13.7

3,557 4,723 5,546 5,151 6,221 7,321 5,775 4,690 6,368 7,751 8,083 12,698

-52.4 -44.4 -17.4 -19.9 -14.9 -39.0 -15.4 -13.0 3.0 33.6 11.6 32.9

1,300 1,281 1,711 1,565 1,564 2,241 1,493 1,474 2,021 1,518 2,664 5,904

-36.1 -42.3 21.9 7.7 47.4 -26.7 -35.2 12.0 13.5 -23.0 26.5 10.0

2,109 3,290 3,781 3,160 4,537 4,940 4,148 3,172 4,122 6,144 5,204 6,340

2014 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

7,057 6,665 7,953 8,476 8,191 9,506 7,914 7,721 7,966 8,239 8,339 10,438

12.5 6.9 3.7 4.6 0.4 0.1 0.8 0.7 -2.8 -4.6 -8.2 -2.5

2,314 2,207 2,626 2,740 2,584 3,382 2,429 2,324 2,491 2,532 2,673 3,704

11.7 -6.0 1.8 -3.2 -7.6 -8.4 -7.8 -9.0 -13.2 -14.2 -14.3 -7.8

4,452 4,237 4,987 5,458 5,316 5,737 5,149 5,112 5,099 5,369 5,293 6,194

12.4 15.7 4.1 9.6 4.5 6.5 4.9 5.9 1.9 0.5 -6.1 1.1

5,528 5,549 4,895 7,359 6,834 9,243 6,969 8,688 8,377 7,755 6,427 12,209

55.4 17.5 -11.7 42.9 9.9 26.2 20.7 85.2 31.6 0.0 -20.5 -3.9

2,034 2,241 1,623 1,894 2,000 2,682 1,533 1,628 2,029 1,416 1,895 5,522

56.4 75.0 -5.1 21.0 27.8 19.7 2.7 10.5 0.4 -6.7 -28.9 -6.5

3,305 56.7 3,158 -4.0 3,165 -16.3 5,454 72.6 4,767 5.1 6,316 27.8 5,298 27.7 6,849 115.9 6,029 46.3 6,157 0.2 4,415 -15.2 6,410 1.1

2015 1 2 3P 4P

6,774 6,681 7,802 7,690

-4.0 0.2 -1.9 -9.3

1,997 2,089 2,469 2,472

-13.7 -5.3 -6.0 -9.8

4,561 4,374 5,021 4,924

2.4 3.2 0.7 -9.8

7,216 5,367 12,134 8,705

30.5 -3.3 147.9 18.3

1,297 1,133 2,136 2,571

-36.2 -49.4 31.6 35.7

5,882 78.0 4,115 30.3 9,879 212.2 6,078 11.4

P: Preliminary Source: Statistics Korea

-60.0 -46.3 -23.1 -29.2 -26.0 -41.9 -4.2 -21.3 -0.9 62.2 8.5 92.7

61

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

8. Composite indices of business cycle indicators and BSI Period

Leading index (2010=100)

Cyclical indicator of leading index (2010=100)

Cyclical Coincident index indicator of (2010=100) coincident index (2010=100)

BSI (results)

BSI (prospects)

2011 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

101.5 101.7 101.8 101.4 101.7 102.2 102.8 103.0 103.1 103.3 103.5 103.8

101.0 100.7 100.3 99.5 99.4 99.4 99.5 99.2 99.0 98.7 98.4 98.3

103.5 103.5 104.0 104.0 104.9 105.6 106.2 106.7 106.8 107.2 107.3 107.7

101.7 101.4 101.4 101.1 101.5 101.8 101.9 102.0 101.6 101.6 101.2 101.2

99.1 92.2 107.8 98.4 98.9 99.6 96.2 86.8 96.4 95.0 93.0 90.1

101.8 98.0 113.5 99.3 104.3 104.3 101.3 98.9 96.3 101.4 96.4 94.8

2012 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

104.6 105.7 106.2 106.6 106.7 107.8 108.3 108.4 108.1 108.5 109.3 110.1

98.5 99.2 99.1 99.1 98.7 99.3 99.3 98.9 98.2 98.1 98.4 98.7

107.7 108.6 108.8 109.2 109.3 109.7 110.5 110.4 110.8 110.9 111.5 112.1

100.8 101.3 101.0 101.0 100.6 100.7 100.9 100.4 100.4 100.0 100.2 100.3

88.6 92.2 101.4 97.5 95.7 90.4 82.1 84.4 89.3 88.9 82.2 87.0

88.3 91.0 106.1 98.4 104.7 98.3 89.7 82.7 99.5 97.0 92.5 82.0

2013 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

110.4 110.9 111.4 111.9 112.7 113.8 114.5 115.1 115.3 116.2 117.1 118.1

98.5 98.5 98.5 98.6 98.8 99.3 99.5 99.6 99.3 99.6 99.9 100.3

112.4 112.9 113.0 113.6 114.1 114.8 115.2 115.8 116.1 116.8 117.2 117.8

100.2 100.2 99.8 100.0 100.0 100.2 100.2 100.3 100.1 100.3 100.2 100.3

85.0 83.0 101.3 94.1 97.6 95.0 91.1 89.8 93.0 94.7 91.9 90.5

85.7 86.7 104.4 101.5 99.8 97.2 90.7 92.7 94.4 101.1 94.7 92.6

2014 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

118.7 118.9 119.0 119.4 119.8 120.5 121.1 122.4 123.6 124.4 124.9 125.9

100.4 100.2 99.8 99.7 99.6 99.7 99.8 100.4 101.0 101.2 101.1 101.5

118.5 118.9 119.4 119.6 119.8 120.2 120.8 121.5 121.8 121.9 122.2 123.0

100.5 100.5 100.5 100.3 100.1 100.1 100.2 100.4 100.2 99.9 99.8 100.1

89.4 87.0 100.7 95.8 93.0 91.3 90.8 89.0 92.3 93.1 90.0 95.4

93.4 88.7 104.4 99.5 101.7 94.5 94.0 91.6 93.1 100.7 93.6 94.0

2015 1 2 3 4 5 6

127.8 129.0 130.5 131.1 -

102.5 103.1 103.8 103.8 -

123.6 124.5 124.7 125.1 -

100.2 100.5 100.3 100.3 -

94.0 89.4 101.5 101.3 95.6 -

90.3 92.1 103.7 97.5 99.4 96.4

Sources: Statistics Korea, The Bank of Korea

62

Statistical Appendices

9. Balance of payments (I) (US $ million)

Period

Current account

Goods

2012 2013 2014

50,835.0 79,883.6 89,220.1

2012 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

Services

Primary income

Secondary income

554,103.2 536,559.0 528,611.3

-5,213.6 -7,927.4 -8,163.4

12,116.7 11,424.8 10,197.7

-5,474.1 -4,182.3 -5,501.8

144,260.1 150,834.0 149,619.5 158,795.6

142,598.6 142,299.0 133,724.9 135,480.7

-2,970.8 172.0 -679.8 -1,735.0

2,045.3 3,942.3 2,972.2 3,156.9

-1,482.0 -1,044.2 -1,300.2 -1,647.7

14,298.0 20,585.3 23,305.7 24,592.0

147,823.3 154,065.9 153,715.8 162,551.9

133,525.3 133,480.6 130,410.1 137,959.9

-2,667.9 647.9 -2,078.5 -2,400.7

1,812.4 1,660.5 2,346.6 3,236.2

-828.2 -546.3 -1,323.4 -1,491.4

15,185.9 24,240.4 22,565.7 27,228.1

17,745.2 26,428.1 21,676.0 26,838.3

152,688.6 159,385.4 153,482.3 155,742.6

134,943.4 132,957.3 131,806.3 128,904.3

-3,503.4 -1,838.7 -904.0 -1,917.3

1,905.8 1,330.9 3,143.5 3,817.5

-961.7 -1,679.9 -1,349.8 -1,510.4

2013 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

3,075.6 2,473.1 7,065.6 5,334.6 9,886.4 7,126.4 7,323.2 6,745.6 8,181.6 11,108.9 6,229.9 6,597.3

3,953.0 3,256.4 7,088.6 5,510.6 9,363.1 5,711.6 7,462.2 7,271.4 8,572.1 9,767.8 8,024.8 6,799.4

51,765.7 44,916.0 51,141.6 51,704.7 53,477.3 48,883.9 53,326.3 49,899.2 50,490.3 56,820.8 52,702.3 53,028.8

47,812.7 41,659.6 44,053.0 46,194.1 44,114.2 43,172.3 45,864.1 42,627.8 41,918.2 47,053.0 44,677.5 46,229.4

-1,556.6 -1,144.9 33.6 496.2 -28.7 180.4 -879.0 -869.3 -330.2 405.8 -2,088.9 -717.6

1,169.5 623.3 19.6 -482.0 721.6 1,420.9 1,032.7 665.9 648.0 1,335.7 674.8 1,225.7

-490.3 -261.7 -76.2 -190.2 -169.6 -186.5 -292.7 -322.4 -708.3 -400.4 -380.8 -710.2

2014 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

3,323.7 4,537.5 7,324.7 7,163.1 9,119.2 7,958.1 7,881.7 7,235.1 7,448.9 8,883.2 11,322.1 7,022.8

4,367.0 5,403.4 7,974.8 10,648.0 9,133.5 6,646.6 6,794.4 7,367.3 7,514.3 8,487.1 10,031.4 8,319.8

50,599.8 47,993.3 54,095.5 56,721.4 52,383.0 50,281.0 53,811.7 48,920.1 50,750.5 51,970.8 50,063.0 53,708.8

46,232.8 42,589.9 46,120.7 46,073.4 43,249.5 43,634.4 47,017.3 41,552.8 43,236.2 43,483.7 40,031.6 45,389.0

-1,873.7 -1,020.3 -609.4 -1,004.4 -297.7 -536.6 31.0 -694.3 -240.7 -212.6 -164.6 -1,540.1

1,211.4 371.8 322.6 -1,619.7 725.1 2,225.5 1,488.8 1,048.0 606.7 967.6 1,667.5 1,182.4

-381.0 -217.4 -363.3 -860.8 -441.7 -377.4 -432.5 -485.9 -431.4 -358.9 -212.2 -939.3

2015P 1 2 3 4

6,583.0 6,442.2 10,429.3 8,135.7

6,687.0 7,321.2 11,250.0 12,558.0

45,398.8 40,595.3 49,486.5 50,376.1

38,711.8 33,274.1 38,236.5 37,818.1

-2,384.4 -2,061.6 -967.0 -1,125.0

2,900.4 1,401.3 528.8 -2,837.5

-620.0 -218.7 -382.5 -459.8

Exports

Imports

49,406.0 80,568.6 92,687.6

603,509.2 617,127.6 621,298.9

-746.0 11,605.1 16,886.8 23,089.1

1,661.5 8,535.0 15,894.6 23,314.9

2013 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

12,614.3 22,347.4 22,250.4 23,936.1

2014 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

P: Preliminary Source: The Bank of Korea

63

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

10. Balance of payments (II) (US $ million)

Capital & financial account

Direct investment

Portfolio investment

Financial derivatives

Other investment

Capital transfers & acquisition of nonfinancial assets

Reserve assets

2012 2013 2014

-51,582.4 -80,104.6 -90,383.3

-21,136.2 -15,593.2 -20,659.5

6,747.8 -9,344.5 -33,605.3

2,627.8 4,410.3 3,704.9

-26,637.3 -43,281.1 -21,937.9

-41.7 -27.0 -9.0

-13,184.5 -16,296.1 -17,885.5

2012 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

-4,564.4 -4,278.7 -18,096.1 -24,643.2

-7,579.6 -4,057.3 -5,705.4 -3,793.9

14,759.6 -6,803.0 4,177.7 -5,386.5

1,198.5 -270.6 595.3 1,104.6

-6,495.1 6,181.1 -13,247.2 -13,076.1

-19.2 -6.7 -9.0 -6.8

-6,447.8 671.1 -3,916.5 -3,491.3

2013 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

-11,448.7 -19,645.6 -22,675.5 -26,334.8

-3,878.4 -3,397.8 -3,426.8 -4,890.2

-7,285.9 -9,776.5 9,375.4 -1,657.5

1,395.8 -513.6 1,656.3 1,871.8

2,880.2 -10,063.8 -23,611.4 -12,486.1

-2.7 -27.5 12.8 -9.6

-4,560.4 4,106.1 -6,669.0 -9,172.8

2014 Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ

-17177.8 -24,208.1 -22,481.5 -26,515.9

-3,657.7 -7,552.9 -3,908.6 -5,540.3

-13,596.7 -5,867.2 -4,762.4 -9,379.0

892.6 2,083.5 1,531.9 -803.1

6,207.4 -1,701.9 -9,510.4 -16,933.0

-2.1 -4.3 3.6 -6.2

-7,023.4 -11,169.6 -5,832.0 6,139.5

2013 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

-2,694.7 -1,707.1 -7,046.9 -2,435.7 -12,288.9 -4,921.0 -9,446.1 -6,236.3 -6,993.1 -10,139.4 -7,433.1 -8,762.3

-802.5 -909.3 -2,166.6 401.3 -2,175.6 -1,623.5 -796.8 -1,157.2 -1,472.8 -340.7 -2,243.9 -2,305.6

-5,964.7 2,149.9 -3,471.1 -2,060.8 -1,642.1 -6,073.6 1,785.8 1,584.1 6,005.5 4,942.8 -1,557.9 -5,042.4

579.6 651.0 165.2 -301.1 719.1 -931.6 431.4 210.0 1,014.9 805.3 466.9 599.6

4,123.7 -1,158.3 -85.2 -1,382.5 -8,189.7 -491.6 -8,821.6 -5,172.4 -9,617.4 -10,754.2 -1,248.6 -483.3

-8.0 -2.9 8.2 -1.6 -11.0 -14.9 1.1 18.2 -6.5 -2.0 0.0 -7.6

-630.8 -2,440.4 -1,489.2 907.4 -1,000.6 4,199.3 -2,044.9 -1,700.8 -2,923.3 -4,792.6 -2,849.6 -1,530.6

2014 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

-4,477.0 -6,920.5 -5,780.3 -6,238.8 -8,132.4 -9,836.9 -5,916.9 -7,802.4 -8,762.2 -6,801.5 -9,915.5 -9,798.9

529.9 -2,163.5 -2,024.1 -2,157.8 -3,338.8 -2,056.3 -1,011.5 -749.5 -2,147.6 -2,088.9 -2,098.2 -1,353.2

-4,193.1 -7,394.4 -2,009.2 1,662.3 -3,311.0 -4,218.5 -1,743.7 504.4 -3,523.1 -382.4 -2,835.6 -6,161.0

155.5 223.1 514.0 858.1 534.5 690.9 504.1 557.7 470.1 -570.7 -81.8 -150.6

1,937.4 4,739.0 -469.0 -5,935.6 3,950.6 283.1 -338.1 -7,288.1 -1,884.2 -4,007.0 -7,797.4 -5,128.6

-3.0 3.5 -2.6 2.6 -4.3 -2.6 -6.3 11.2 -1.3 -1.1 -0.9 -4.2

-2,906.7 -2,324.7 -1,792.0 -665.8 -5,967.7 -4,536.1 -3,327.7 -826.9 -1,677.4 247.5 2,897.5 2,994.5

2015P 1 2 3 4

-8,240.4 -5,538.7 -11,020.7 -10,061.9

-1,001.5 -1,994.5 -2,389.9 -1,971.3

-3,623.7 -3,001.5 -1,213.2 -138.0

-76.2 27.5 89.7 301.9

489.1 -371.2 -4,624.3 -4,851.0

-13.0 -1.7 -8.4 -8.5

-4,028.1 -199.0 -2,883.0 -3,403.5

Period

P: Preliminary Source: Statistics Korea

64

Statistical Appendices

11. Prices (2010=100)

Period

Consumer Prices Commodities Services

All Items y-o-y change (%)

y-o-y change (%)

Producer prices All Items Commodities

Core

y-o-y change (%)

y-o-y change (%)

y-o-y change (%)

y-o-y change (%)

2012 2013 2014

106.3 107.7 109.0

2.2 1.3 1.3

108.9 110.1 111.1

3.0 1.0 0.9

104.2 105.8 107.4

1.4 1.5 1.6

104.9 106.6 108.8

1.6 1.6 2.0

107.5 105.7 105.2

0.7 -1.6 -0.5

108.9 106.2 104.8

0.2 -2.5 -1.4

2012 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

105.7 106.1 106.0 106.0 106.2 106.1 105.9 106.3 107.0 106.9 106.5 106.7

3.4 3.1 2.6 2.5 2.5 2.2 1.5 1.2 2.0 2.1 1.6 1.4

107.9 108.5 109.2 108.9 109.2 108.8 107.9 108.8 110.4 109.8 108.9 109.0

4.4 3.9 4.1 4.1 4.3 3.6 1.9 1.6 3.1 3.0 2.0 1.6

103.9 104.2 103.5 103.7 103.9 104.0 104.2 104.4 104.4 104.6 104.6 104.8

2.7 2.5 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.1 1.3 1.4 1.3 1.3

104.6 104.7 104.3 104.4 104.6 104.9 104.9 105.1 105.2 105.2 105.3 105.5

3.2 2.5 1.9 1.8 1.6 1.5 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.3 1.2

107.7 108.4 108.9 109.0 108.4 107.1 106.6 107.2 107.6 106.8 106.1 105.8

3.2 3.1 2.4 1.9 1.0 0.0 -0.6 -0.1 0.2 -0.5 -0.9 -1.2

109.5 110.5 111.2 111.1 110.3 108.4 107.6 108.6 109.2 107.8 106.8 106.4

3.6 3.6 2.7 1.9 0.7 -0.7 -1.5 -0.9 -0.4 -1.4 -1.9 -2.3

2013 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

107.3 107.7 107.6 107.5 107.5 107.3 107.6 107.9 108.1 107.8 107.8 107.9

1.6 1.6 1.5 1.3 1.1 1.2 1.6 1.5 1.0 0.9 1.2 1.1

109.9 110.4 110.4 109.9 109.6 109.4 109.7 110.3 110.9 110.1 110.1 110.2

1.7 1.6 1.1 0.9 0.4 0.7 1.7 1.5 0.4 0.3 1.0 0.9

105.3 105.6 105.4 105.6 105.7 105.7 105.9 106.1 106.0 106.0 106.0 106.2

1.5 1.5 1.7 1.7 1.8 1.6 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.3

105.9 106.2 106.0 106.0 106.4 106.6 106.7 106.7 107.0 107.1 107.4 107.5

1.3 1.4 1.6 1.6 1.7 1.6 1.7 1.5 1.7 1.8 2.0 1.9

106.0 106.7 106.3 105.9 105.6 105.5 105.5 105.8 105.7 105.3 105.1 105.4

-1.6 -1.6 -2.4 -2.8 -2.6 -1.4 -1.0 -1.3 -1.8 -1.4 -0.9 -0.4

106.8 107.8 107.1 106.6 106.1 106.0 106.0 106.2 106.1 105.5 105.2 105.5

-2.5 -2.5 -3.7 -4.1 -3.8 -2.2 -1.6 -2.1 -2.8 -2.2 -1.5 -0.9

2014 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

108.5 108.8 109.0 109.1 109.2 109.1 109.3 109.5 109.4 109.1 108.8 108.8

1.1 1.0 1.3 1.5 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.4 1.1 1.2 1.0 0.8

110.9 111.4 111.6 111.3 111.5 111.2 111.2 111.4 111.5 110.6 110.2 110.1

0.9 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.7 1.7 1.4 1.0 0.5 0.5 0.2 0.0

106.6 106.7 107.0 107.3 107.5 107.4 107.7 107.9 107.8 107.8 107.7 107.8

1.3 1.1 1.5 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.6

107.7 108.0 108.3 108.5 108.8 108.9 109.1 109.2 109.1 109.1 109.1 109.3

1.7 1.7 2.1 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.2 2.4 1.9 1.8 1.6 1.6

105.6 105.8 105.7 105.6 105.5 105.6 105.7 105.6 105.2 104.5 104.1 103.1

-0.3 -0.9 -0.5 -0.3 0.0 0.1 0.2 -0.2 -0.5 -0.8 -0.9 -2.1

105.7 105.9 105.7 105.4 105.3 105.4 105.5 105.1 104.7 103.6 103.1 101.9

-1.0 -1.7 -1.3 -1.1 -0.7 -0.6 -0.4 -1.1 -1.3 -1.8 -2.0 -3.6

2015 1 2 3 4

109.4 109.4 109.4 109.5

0.8 0.5 0.4 0.4

110.9 110.6 110.3 110.1

-0.1 -0.7 -1.2 -1.1

108.2 108.4 108.7 109.0

1.5 1.5 1.6 1.6

110.3 110.4 110.6 110.7

2.4 2.3 2.1 2.0

101.9 101.9 101.8 101.8

-3.6 -3.6 -3.7 -3.6

99.7 99.7 99.5 99.4

-5.8 -5.8 -5.9 -5.7

Source: The Bank of Korea

65

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

12. Employment Period

Economically active persons (thousand)

All industry

y-o-y change (%)

Employed persons (thousand) Manufacturing SOC & services

y-o-y change (%)

y-o-y change (%)

y-o-y change (%)

Unemployment rate (%)

2012 2013 2014

25,501 25,873 26,536

1.6 1.5 2.6

24,681 25,066 25,599

1.8 1.6 2.1

4,105 4,184 4,330

0.3 1.9 3.5

19,033 19,347 19,805

2.4 1.6 2.4

3.2 3.1 3.5

2012 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

24,585 24,825 25,210 25,653 25,939 25,939 25,901 25,623 25,755 25,787 25,652 25,139

2.0 1.6 1.2 1.6 1.8 1.4 1.7 1.4 2.7 1.5 1.3 1.0

23,732 23,783 24,265 24,758 25,133 25,117 25,106 24,859 25,003 25,069 24,941 24,402

2.3 1.9 1.8 1.9 1.9 1.5 1.9 1.5 2.8 1.6 1.4 1.1

4,034 4,060 4,018 4,027 4,071 4,084 4,114 4,111 4,153 4,188 4,218 4,183

-2.8 -2.1 -2.5 -2.0 -1.6 -1.2 0.8 2.0 3.5 3.6 4.0 2.8

18,631 18,599 18,870 19,103 19,292 19,248 19,265 19,040 19,125 19,128 19,088 19,010

3.5 3.2 3.4 3.1 3.0 2.3 2.2 1.6 2.8 1.4 0.9 0.9

3.5 4.2 3.7 3.5 3.1 3.2 3.1 3.0 2.9 2.8 2.8 2.9

2013 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

24,901 24,973 25,397 25,928 26,195 26,291 26,301 26,074 26,186 26,268 26,230 25,736

1.3 0.6 0.7 1.1 1.0 1.4 1.5 1.7 1.7 1.9 2.3 2.4

24,054 23,984 24,514 25,103 25,398 25,478 25,473 25,291 25,466 25,545 25,530 24,962

1.4 0.8 1.0 1.4 1.1 1.4 1.5 1.7 1.9 1.9 2.4 2.3

4,189 4,139 4,141 4,192 4,175 4,180 4,167 4,116 4,174 4,218 4,253 4,264

3.9 1.9 3.1 4.1 2.6 2.3 1.3 0.1 0.5 0.7 0.8 2.0

18,810 18,736 18,989 19,303 19,492 19,531 19,577 19,438 19,540 19,558 19,670 19,514

1.0 0.7 0.6 1.0 1.0 1.5 1.6 2.1 2.2 2.2 3.0 2.7

3.4 4.0 3.5 3.2 3.0 3.1 3.1 3.0 2.7 2.8 2.7 3.0

2014 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

25,650 25,997 26,187 26,714 26,762 26,825 26,891 26,775 26,766 26,809 26,786 26,270

3.0 4.1 3.1 3.0 2.2 2.0 2.2 2.7 2.2 2.1 2.1 2.1

24,759 24,819 25,163 25,684 25,811 25,875 25,979 25,885 25,917 25,951 25,968 25,384

2.9 3.5 2.6 2.3 1.6 1.6 2.0 2.3 1.8 1.6 1.7 1.7

4,280 4,274 4,284 4,288 4,324 4,345 4,358 4,335 4,347 4,361 4,355 4,406

2.2 3.3 3.5 2.3 3.6 3.9 4.6 5.3 4.1 3.4 2.4 3.3

19,376 19,407 19,538 19,819 19,815 19,841 20,003 19,940 19,949 19,973 20,098 19,896

3.0 3.6 2.9 2.7 1.7 1.6 2.2 2.6 2.1 2.1 2.2 2.0

3.5 4.5 3.9 3.9 3.6 3.5 3.4 3.3 3.2 3.2 3.1 3.4

2015 1 2 3 4 5

26,094 26,398 26,577 26,954 27,211

1.7 1.5 1.5 0.9 1.7

25,106 25,195 25,501 25,900 26,189

1.4 1.5 1.3 0.8 1.5

4,421 4,433 4,400 4,455 4,464

3.3 3.7 2.7 3.9 3.2

19,693 19,716 19,832 20,004 20,179

1.6 1.6 1.5 0.9 1.8

3.8 4.6 4.0 3.9 3.8

Source: Statistics Korea

66

Statistical Appendices

13. Financial indicators (period average)

Period

Yields(%) Corporate bonds Treasury bonds (3 years, AA-) (3 years)

Treasury bonds (5 years)

Stock KOSPI(endperiod)

Call rate (1 day)

CDs (91 days)

2011 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

2.7 2.8 2.9 3.0 3.0 3.2 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.2 3.3 3.3

2.9 3.1 3.4 3.4 3.5 3.5 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6

4.5 4.7 4.5 4.5 4.4 4.4 4.5 4.2 4.2 4.3 4.2 4.2

3.7 3.9 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.8 3.6 3.5 3.5 3.4 3.4

4.3 4.4 4.1 4.1 4.0 3.9 4.0 3.7 3.6 3.6 3.5 3.5

2,069.73 1,939.30 2,106.70 2,192.36 2,142.47 2,100.69 2,133.21 1,880.11 1,769.65 1,909.03 1,847.51 1,825.74

2012 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.1 3.0 3.0 2.8 2.8 2.8

3.6 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.3 3.2 3.1 2.9 2.9 2.9

4.2 4.3 4.4 4.3 4.0 3.9 3.6 3.4 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3

3.4 3.4 3.6 3.5 3.4 3.3 3.0 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.9

3.5 3.6 3.7 3.6 3.5 3.4 3.1 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.9 3.0

1,955.79 2,030.25 2,014.04 1,981.99 1,843.47 1,854.01 1,881.99 1,905.12 1,996.21 1,912.06 1,932.90 1,997.05

2013 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

2.8 2.8 2.7 2.8 2.6 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5

2.9 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7

3.2 3.1 3.0 2.9 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.4 3.4

2.8 2.7 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.8 2.9 2.9

2.9 2.8 2.7 2.6 2.7 3.1 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.1 3.2 3.3

1,961.94 2,026.49 2,004.89 1,963.95 2,001.05 1,863.32 1,914.03 1,926.36 1,996.96 2,030.09 2,044.87 2,011.34

2014 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0 2.0

2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.5 2.4 2.2 2.1 2.1

3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.2 3.0 3.0 2.8 2.6 2.5 2.5

2.9 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.8 2.7 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.2 2.1 2.1

3.3 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.1 3.0 2.8 2.8 2.6 2.4 2.3 2.3

1,941.15 1,979.99 1,985.61 1,961.79 1,994.96 2,002.21 2,076.12 2,068.54 2,020.09 1,964.43 1,980.78 1,915.59

2015 1 2 3 4 5

2.0 2.0 1.8 1.7 1.7

2.1 2.1 2.0 1.8 1.8

2.4 2.3 2.1 2.0 2.1

2.0 2.0 1.9 1.7 1.9

2.2 2.1 2.0 1.9 2.1

1,949.26 1,985.80 2,041.03 2,127.17 2,114.80

Source: The Bank of Korea

67

ECONOMIC BULLETIN • june 2015

14. Monetary indicators (billion won)

Period 2012 2013 2014

Reserve money y-o-y change (%)

M1

M2

y-o-y change (%)

Lf

y-o-y change (%)

y-o-y change (%)

82,131.1 91,379.4 103,331.5

9.2 11.3 13.1

441,963.6 484,062.9 536,733.4

3.8 9.5 10.9

1,798,625.7 1,885,781.3 2,009,576.3

5.2 4.8 6.6

2,379,518.7 2,543,299.4 2,721,747.4

7.8 6.9 7.0

2012 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

81,635.4 81,655.3 79,068.0 80,641.8 80,547.7 81,804.0 81,555.7 82,369.1 82,958.7 85,078.6 82,956.5 85,302.7

11.0 8.3 8.3 10.2 9.1 9.5 10.1 8.9 6.4 10.6 8.3 9.6

439,352.9 437,193.9 440,075.4 437,445.3 438,795.3 441,611.0 441,760.6 439,573.2 440,034.3 444,477.8 445,463.9 457,778.9

2.3 1.1 2.1 2.8 3.5 4.7 5.4 4.0 3.5 5.5 5.3 5.8

1,757,058.7 1,762,988.4 1,773,172.9 1,777,114.7 1,784,220.5 1,796,981.5 1,807,289.2 1,817,134.9 1,819,290.1 1,822,420.9 1,830,280.3 1,835,556.7

4.8 5.3 5.7 5.5 5.5 5.9 6.0 5.7 5.2 4.6 4.4 4.5

2,292,213.5 2,302,065.8 2,341,626.9 2,349,723.2 2,357,701.0 2,377,071.3 2,393,737.7 2,405,239.9 2,415,263.5 2,424,000.4 2,440,062.8 2,455,962.9

6.5 7.2 8.8 8.6 8.4 8.5 8.4 7.8 7.6 7.1 7.1 7.3

2013 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

85,839.3 88,855.7 89,523.5 87,729.0 89,654.8 91,207.6 90,643.7 93,729.6 95,130.6 93,640.4 93,609.9 96,988.5

5.1 8.8 13.2 8.8 11.3 11.5 11.1 13.8 14.7 10.1 12.8 13.7

464,914.5 472,239.6 472,430.1 475,330.0 475,526.7 486,587.5 488,982.7 481,416.9 490,518.7 491,947.9 499,242.7 509,617.9

5.8 8.0 7.4 8.7 8.4 10.2 10.7 9.5 11.5 10.7 12.1 11.3

1,841,128.1 1,857,135.0 1,862,405.5 1,867,726.3 1,870,289.7 1,884,193.2 1,890,728.6 1,888,658.4 1,903,187.1 1,908,557.6 1,923,339.2 1,932,026.4

4.8 5.3 5.0 5.1 4.8 4.9 4.6 3.9 4.6 4.7 5.1 5.3

2,469,789.3 2,488,539.0 2,499,718.1 2,512,459.7 2,518,239.1 2,533,750.8 2,549,443.5 2,557,336.3 2,577,546.7 2,587,071.4 2,605,873.9 2,619,029.5

7.7 8.1 6.8 6.9 6.8 6.6 6.5 6.3 6.7 6.7 6.8 6.6

2014 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

98,541.6 100,547.9 100,624.0 98,898.5 101,791.4 101,412.3 101,164.2 107,682.4 105,354.1 107,117.5 106,667.9 110,175.6

14.8 13.2 12.4 12.7 13.5 11.2 11.6 14.9 10.7 14.4 13.9 13.6

515,742.5 518,475.5 520,299.0 518,809.3 523,069.9 532,041.2 534,028.8 538,640.3 548,550.8 551,416.0 562,006.2 577,721.1

10.9 9.8 10.1 9.1 10.0 9.3 9.2 11.9 11.8 12.1 12.6 13.4

1,937,045.6 1,954,340.7 1,964,954.0 1,970,361.6 1,982,390.9 1,999,376.3 2,013,935.1 2,031,777.2 2,037,600.8 2,051,149.8 2,083,253.5 2,088,729.8

5.2 5.2 5.5 5.5 6.0 6.1 6.5 7.6 7.1 7.5 8.3 8.1

2,635,100.1 2,647,674.0 2,659,370.7 2,669,341.4 2,684,643.9 2,703,088.1 2,725,737.6 2,743,972.5 2,759,390.8 2,776,971.6 2,817,698.0 2,837,910.9

6.7 6.4 6.4 6.2 6.6 6.7 6.9 7.3 7.1 7.3 8.1 8.2

2015 1 2 3 4

113,304.2 116,502.4 115,974.9 115,132.7

15.0 15.9 15.3 16.4

579,964.2 592,737.4 600,719.9 610,803.3

12.5 14.3 15.5 17.7

2,092,223.5 2,109,843.2 2,127,887.8 2,148,114.7

8.0 8.0 8.3 9.0

2,857,610.1 2,876,619.9 2,907,976.4 2,936,746.7

8.4 8.6 9.3 10.0

Source: The Bank of Korea

68

Statistical Appendices

15. Exchange rates (end-period)

Period

100/ \

US $/ \

Euro/ \

Won

y-o-y change (%)

Won

y-o-y change (%)

Won

y-o-y change (%)

2012 2013 2014

1,071.1 1,055.3 1,099.2

-7.1 -1.5 4.2

1,247.5 1,004.7 920.1

-16.0 -19.5 -8.4

1,416.3 1,456.3 1,336.5

-5.2 2.8 -8.2

2012 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1,125.0 1,126.5 1,137.8 1,134.2 1,177.8 1,153.8 1,136.2 1,134.6 1,118.6 1,094.1 1,084.7 1,071.1

1.0 -0.1 2.8 5.8 9.0 7.0 7.9 5.9 -5.2 -0.9 -5.7 -7.1

1,473.1 1,399.2 1,380.7 1,412.0 1,489.1 1,453.8 1,453.6 1,444.0 1,441.1 1,374.5 1,320.6 1,247.5

8.6 1.3 3.7 7.5 11.5 8.8 7.4 3.4 -6.2 -5.7 -10.5 -16.0

1,478.2 1,516.3 1,513.4 1,501.7 1,456.6 1,435.0 1,393.1 1,419.6 1,444.3 1,418.3 1,407.3 1,416.3

-2.4 -2.1 -3.2 -5.6 -6.0 -8.0 -7.6 -8.3 -9.8 -9.2 -8.2 -5.2

2013 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1,082.7 1,085.4 1,112.1 1,108.1 1,128.3 1,149.7 1,113.6 1,110.9 1,075.6 1,061.4 1,062.1 1,055.3

-3.8 -3.6 -2.3 -2.3 -4.2 -0.4 -2.0 -2.1 -3.8 -3.0 -2.1 -1.5

1,188.5 1,176.2 1,180.1 1,132.0 1,116.6 1,167.2 1,135.4 1,129.2 1,098.7 1,077.5 1,038.2 1,004.7

-19.3 -15.9 -14.5 -19.8 -25.0 -19.7 -21.9 -21.8 -23.8 -21.6 -21.4 -19.5

1,469.3 1,425.8 1,425.2 1,451.3 1,471.4 1,498.2 1,476.7 1,470.6 1,451.3 1,456.6 1,444.8 1,456.3

-0.6 -6.0 -5.8 -3.4 1.0 4.4 6.0 3.6 0.5 2.7 2.7 2.8

2014 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1,079.2 1,067.7 1,068.8 1,031.7 1,021.6 1,014.4 1,024.3 1,013.6 1,050.6 1,054.0 1,101.1 1,099.2

-0.3 -1.6 -3.9 -6.9 -9.5 -11.8 -8.0 -8.8 -2.3 -0.7 3.7 4.2

1,043.7 1,044.8 1,038.7 1,005.3 1,004.2 1,000.0 995.7 977.6 960.2 964.1 933.9 920.1

-12.2 -11.2 -12.0 -11.2 -10.1 -14.3 -12.3 -13.4 -12.6 -10.5 -10.0 -8.4

1,473.6 1,463.6 1,469.4 1,425.0 1,389.6 1,384.2 1,371.8 1,336.2 1,333.3 1,328.8 1,372.2 1,336.5

0.3 2.7 3.1 -1.8 -5.6 -7.6 -7.1 -9.1 -8.1 -8.8 -5.0 -8.2

2015 1 2 3 4 5

1,090.8 1,099.2 1,105.0 1,068.1 1,108.0

1.1 3.0 3.4 3.5 8.5

921.3 920.7 920.3 897.2 894.6

-11.7 -11.9 -11.4 -10.8 -10.9

1,235.7 1,230.7 1,196.8 1,187.0 1,215.2

-16.1 -15.9 -18.6 -16.7 -12.6

Source: The Bank of Korea

Useful websites Ministry of Strategy and Finance http://english.mosf.go.kr Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy http://english.motie.go.kr Financial Services Commission http://www.fsc.go.kr/eng Financial Supervisory Service http://english.fss.or.kr Fair Trade Commission http://eng.ftc.go.kr Ministry of Employment and Labor http://www.moel.go.kr/english The Bank of Korea http://www.bok.or.kr/eng Statistics Korea http://kostat.go.kr/portal/english

Maebong Wind Farm Wind turbines are lined up along the ridges of Mt. Maebong in Taebaek, Gangwon Province. While Mt. Maebong is well known for its wind farm, it is also home to the largest highland cabbage farm in the region, which can be seen in the foreground.

ISSN 2287-7266

ECONOMIC BULLETIN (Republic of Korea)

Republic of Korea

June 2015

conomic u l l e t i n

Vol.37 No.6 June 2015

The Green Book: Current Economic Trends Featured Issue

Deputy Prime Minister Choi in London, Seeking Financial Market Innovation

Policy Issue

ECONOMIC BULLETIN

(Republic of Korea)

Economic Policies for the Second Half of 2015

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Economic News Briefing

BOK Cuts Key Rate to 1.50% Labor Market Reform Plan Announced Korea Ranks 25th in IMD Competitiveness Rankings Korea Grows 0.8% in Q1

International Media Relations Division Ministry of Strategy and Finance Government Complex, 477 Galmae-ro

June 2015

Sejong, 339-012

Statistical Appendices

Republic of Korea Tel. +82 2 731 1530 Fax. +82 2 731 1540 E-mail. fppr@mosf.go.kr Website. http://english.mosf.go.kr Economic Information and Education Center Korea Development Institute 263 Namsejong-ro Sejong, 339-007 Republic of Korea Fax. +82 44 550 4941 E-mail. jiyounlee@kdi.re.kr Website. http://eiec.kdi.re.kr

MOSF / KDI

Tel. +82 44 550 4645

Vol.37 No.6