Korea: Business confidence improves but remains in negative territory in August
The Bank of Korea’s forward-looking business confidence indicator for manufacturers rose to 57 in August from July’s 51. August’s result marked the best reading since March, although the indicator remained entrenched below the 100-threshold that separates pessimism from optimism among manufacturers.
A robust improvement in perspectives on sales drove the business confidence indicator higher in August. Moreover, slight improvements in the outlooks regarding profitability, raw material purchase prices and sales prices all contributed to the improvement. Meanwhile, confidence in the non-manufacturing sector increased from 59 in July to 60 in August. The Bank does not collect information about the drivers of sentiment among non-manufacturing firms.