[Aju News DB]
South Korea will unveil steps to shore up a fragile economy this week as unfavorable external factors weigh heavily on the economic recovery in the Asia's fourth-largest economy, Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said Tuesday.
"External uncertainties have increased since the start of the year due to volatile Chinese stocks, falling oil prices and negative interest rates adopted by the Bank of Japan," Yoo told a meeting of business lobby groups, adding measures would be announced on Wednesday.
South Korea's latest economic data underscores Yoo's concerns.
The Bank of Korea’s data released on Tuesday showed South Korea's annual inflation rate cooled to its lowest in four months in January. The consumer price index rose 0.8 percent in January from a year earlier, Statistics Korea said, down from a 1.3 percent increase in December and the slowest rise since a 0.6 percent gain in September last year.
This followed downbeat data on Monday showing annual exports in January slumping over 18 percent, the sharpest fall since the depths of the global financial crisis in 2009.
Analysts said the grim data may force the central bank into easing policy once again, although few expect it to act at the next meeting scheduled for February 16. The country’s base rate is currently at a record-low 1.50 percent. The bank last eased policy in June 2015.
Alex Lee
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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