Korea’s Private Consumption Rate Increase is the Lowest Among OECD Members

It is reported that Korea’s private consumption rate increase was the slowest among OECD member states in 2003, posting a negative increase rate.

According to a report entitled “Major Indexes of National Accounts of OECD Members” released by the Bank of Korea on January 3, the increase rate of Korean private consumption stood at minus 1.4 percent in 2003, the lowest figure among 30 OECD members.

Korea’s private consumption increase rate stayed at relatively high levels, recording 4.9 percent in 2001 and 7.9 percent in 2002, except minus 13.4 percent in 1998 when the country was in the financial crisis. But after posting a negative figure in 2003, the figure stood at minus 0.9 percent over the first nine months of last year.

Regarding GDP, which represents the size of an economy, Korea ranked 10th with $605.2 billion, following Spain with $838.6 billion.

The United States topped the list of GDP with $ 11.004 trillion, followed by Japan with $ 4.300 trillion, Germany with $ 2.402 trillion, the U.K. with $1.794 trillion and France with $ 1.757 trillion.

Korea’s per capita income ranked 24th with $12,646, following Portugal with $ 13,869. Luxemburg ranked first with $53,187, followed by the U.S. with $ 37,905 and Japan with $ 34,277.

Meanwhile, the January Business Survey Index (BSI) released on the same day stood at 77.8, far lower than the standard (100). The index was publicized by the Federation of the Korean Industries, which conducted the survey of the top 600 companies in revenue.

The figure has stayed below the standard for eight consecutive months, including this month, but dropped to lower than 80 for the first time since October 2001.

Kang-Woon Lee kwoon90@donga.com