Korea: Sentiment among manufacturing firms picks up in May, albeit still remaining pessimistic
Business confidence jumped to 98.0 in May from April’s 91.0. May’s result marked the best performance since June 2011. As a result, the index moved closer to the 100-point threshold, but still indicated pessimism among businesses.
The uptick was broad based, as sentiment improved among both domestic and export-oriented businesses. Notably, expectations regarding sales saw the biggest increase, potentially as a result of the recent surge in demand for IT products. That said, prospects for profitability improved only slightly, remaining deeply pessimistic.