S.Korea's domestic demand to improve with eased quarantine measures

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SME Times News Bureau | 12 Nov, 2021
South Korea's domestic demand is expected to improve with eased quarantine measures against Covid-19, a government report said on Friday.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance said in its monthly economic report called Green Book that the South Korean economy recently saw a continued recovery in export and employment, reports Xinhua news agency.

It noted that there is a possibility for domestic demand to gradually improve thanks to the eased anti-virus measures.

The government launched the "living with Covid-19" guideline earlier this month as the full vaccination rate topped 70 per cent of the country's total population.

Under the new guideline, no restriction is levied on the business hour of multiuse facilities, such as restaurants and cafes, except for nightlife entertainment facilities including nightclubs.

The maximum number of private gatherings rose to 10 people in the Seoul metropolitan area and 12 people in the non-metropolitan regions.

The Ministry noted that despite the continued recovery of the global economy, worry lingered about inflation driven by a higher commodity price, saying that uncertainty remained over the global supply disruption and the tightened monetary policy in major economies.

Consumer price rose 3.2 per cent in October from a year earlier, topping the central bank's mid-term inflation target of 2 per cent for the seventh consecutive month.

The number of jobs grew 652,000 in October from a year ago, while the unemployment rate declined 0.9 percentage points to 2.8 per cent last month.

Plastic card spending in the domestic market gained 13.4 per cent in October from a year earlier, keeping an upward trend for nine straight months.

Revenue among department stores and online retailers soared 15.1 per cent and 24.5 per cent respectively last month, and revenue among discount outlets added 2.9 per cent in October after sliding 9.5 per cent in September.