Vice Minister Ki Jae: "Although Industrial Production Has Turned Positive, We Must Not Lower Our Guard"

'The 19th Policy Review Meeting' Held

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] Kim Yong-beom, the 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said regarding the June industrial activity trends, "Some of this month's indicator improvements were also influenced by the low base effect due to the sluggishness in April and May."

Vice Minister Kim made these remarks at the 19th Policy Review Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office, stating, "We should not lower our guard just because of this month's indicator improvements."

According to the June industrial activity trends announced by Statistics Korea on the same day, total industrial production in June increased by 4.2% compared to the previous month. Production in manufacturing (7.2%), automobiles (22.9%), and services (2.2%) rose.

The coincident index, which reflects the current economy, rose by 0.2 points from the previous month, and the leading index, which predicts future economic conditions, also increased by 0.4 points from the previous month.

He said, "The global spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is accelerating recently, and conflicts among major countries are intensifying, so this crisis is still ongoing worldwide." He added, "We will devote all policy efforts with extraordinary determination to ensure a definite economic rebound in the third quarter."

Regarding the preliminary GDP figures for the second quarter released the day before for the United States and Germany, he said, "The U.S. showed a negative growth of -32.9% annualized, which translates to -9.5% quarter-on-quarter, marking the worst negative growth since statistics began in 1947."

He also added, "Germany recorded a negative growth of -10.1% quarter-on-quarter, which is the largest decline in growth rate since statistics began in 1991." He explained, "These results appeared despite the unprecedented active policy responses in the U.S. and Germany's solid economic structure."

He stated, "If we look at South Korea's second-quarter GDP growth rate on the same basis as the U.S. and Germany, we can clearly confirm numerically how well our economy has performed compared to other countries."

Meanwhile, at the meeting, discussions were held on ▲ the progress of building the Data Dam ▲ the execution performance of local love gift certificates and Onnuri gift certificates ▲ the progress and promotion of COVID-19 policy responses by major sectors.

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