Korea: Forward-looking manufacturing business confidence stable in April but remains pessimistic
March 28, 2019
The Bank of Korea’s forward-looking business confidence indicator (BSI) for manufacturers was unchanged in April at March’s 76, while confidence in the non-manufacturing sector improved slightly from 75 to 76. Both readings nevertheless remained below the crucial 100-point threshold separating pessimism from optimism.
A breakdown of the BSI components showed manufacturing businesses are more optimistic about raw material purchase prices and sales prices but are less confident regarding profitability.
Korea Fixed Investment Forecast
FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect fixed investment to fall 0.4% in 2019, which is unchanged from last month’s forecast. In 2020, the panel expects fixed investment to grow 2.0%.
Author: Steven Burke, Economist