Asia-Pacific

S Korea's consumer sentiment falls to 7-month low

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-02-24 13:26

SEOUL: South Korea's consumer sentiment fell to a seven-month low in February amid European debt crises and continued high unemployment, the central bank said Wednesday.

According to the Bank of Korea (BOK), the consumer survey index (CSI) for February 2010 posted 111, down from 113 tallied in January when the figure kept standing at a seven-year high.

The CSI is a measure of consumers' overall economic outlook, living conditions and future spending, whose reading above 100 indicating that optimistic views exceed pessimistic ones.

While the overall figure remained solid above the 100-level, consumer sentiment on living standard remained flat, hitting 95, compared with that on prospective living standard declining 3 points to 104.

Consumer sentiment on expectations of domestic economic situations dropped 9 points to 110 from the previous month's 119.

On the other hand, consumer sentiment on prospective prices remained unchanged at 139, compared with expected inflation which rose 0.1 percentage point from January to 3.12 percent.

"The data showed consumers turned wary of economic conditions, mainly due to fiscal crises in European nations and sharp growth in unemployment," Jeong Kui-yun, an official at the BOK, was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency.

Hit by reports from Europe, South Korea's benchmark index KOSPI declined 3 percent since the start of the year.