Korea: Business confidence improves but remains pessimistic in March
Business confidence in the manufacturing sector came in at 85.0 in March, up from February’s 81.0. March’s result marked the strongest sentiment since May 2014. As a result, the index moved closer to the 100-point threshold, but still indicated pessimism among businesses.
The uptick came amid better sentiment regarding overall demand for both domestic and export-oriented firms, as well as for sales and profitability, although all these subsectors remained in pessimistic territory. Notably, raw material and sales prices were two fields in which manufacturing firms were optimistic.