Corporate Sentiment Remains 'Weak' in December... December BSI at 94.0

Increased Compared to Last Month
But Still Below the Baseline 100

The corporate sentiment index, which started the year 'sluggishly,' also failed to recover by the end of the year.

On the 23rd, the Korea Economic Association (hereinafter referred to as KEA) conducted a survey targeting the top 600 companies by sales revenue, and the December Business Survey Index (BSI) outlook recorded 94.0, up 3.9 points (p) from the previous month. Although the economic outlook improved compared to the previous month, the index remained below the baseline of 100 for 21 consecutive months since April last year (99.1), indicating that corporate expectations are still stuck in a sluggish state.

The November BSI actual figure was 89.2. It has been below the baseline for 22 consecutive months since February last year (91.5). This means that corporate performance continues to deteriorate due to the economic recession.

The December economic outlook showed mixed results by industry. Manufacturing (87.7) remained negative in December, but non-manufacturing (100.5) showed a bright outlook centered on leisure, accommodation, and dining sectors (128.6), which are expected to benefit from the holiday season.

The BSI by survey sector showed negative outlooks across all sectors. In particular, domestic demand (96.7), exports (94.9), and investment (91.6) have simultaneously been sluggish for 18 consecutive months since July 2022.

Choo Kwang-ho, head of KEA's Economic and Industrial Division, said, “Although the real economy such as production, consumption, and investment has recently shown signs of rebound, the manufacturing operating rate (73.2% in September) still falls short of last year's average level (74.8%), so companies do not feel the economic recovery at a tangible level.” He advised, “We need to induce a strong turnaround in our economy through active domestic demand and export promotion measures.”

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