Korea: Business confidence deteriorates in January
Business confidence among manufacturing firms fell to 77.0 in January from December’s 81.0. As a result, the index moved further below the 100-point threshold, indicating deteriorating sentiment among firms.
The downturn was led by a deterioration of domestic demand-oriented firms’ prospects, likely due to elevated Covid-19 cases and tighter restrictions in Korea in recent weeks. Businesses grew slightly more downbeat on their prospects for sales and profitability, even though optimism regarding raw material prices improved. Contrastingly, export-oriented firms saw a slight improvement in their expectations as their pessimism eased.