[Economic Outlook] Is the Worst Employment Freeze Due to COVID-19 Coming... Focus on April Export and Import Prices

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] This week, the employment downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to worsen. Additionally, the May issue of Recent Economic Trends, April Financial Market Trends, and import-export price statistics will be released.

On the 13th, Statistics Korea will announce the employment trends for April 2020. According to the employment trends released by Statistics Korea for March, the number of employed persons last month was 26,609,000, a decrease of 195,000 compared to one year ago. This decline is the largest since May 2009 (240,000).

On the 15th, the Ministry of Economy and Finance will publish the May issue of Recent Economic Trends (Green Book). According to the April issue of Recent Economic Trends (Green Book) published by the Ministry on the 17th, domestic credit card approval amounts in March decreased by 4.3% compared to March of the previous year.

Credit card approval amounts refer to the number of transactions approved by each card company after applying for payment with a credit card for purchasing goods and various services domestically. However, online sales increased by 23.6% compared to March last year. The growth rate somewhat slowed compared to February (36.5%).

The Bank of Korea will announce the April Financial Market Trends on the 12th. As policy financial support to respond to COVID-19 increases, corporate loans are expected to rise again in April. Household loans in the banking sector also increased by 960 billion KRW in March alone, marking the largest increase since statistics began in 2004.

The Bank of Korea will release import-export price statistics for April on the 15th. Export volume in March increased by 10.6% year-on-year, supported by the semiconductor market recovery, showing double-digit growth for two consecutive months following February (11.0%).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.