Korea: Manufacturing firms’ month-ahead sentiment picks up in April
Month-ahead business confidence among manufacturing firms came in at 69.0 in April, up from March’s 66.0. As a result, the index remained entrenched below the 100-threshold, indicating that businesses were pessimistic.
Month-ahead business sentiment rose only marginally among export-oriented manufacturing firms and was the second-lowest since July 2020. Exporters continue to struggle with weak external demand, as indicated by export data for January and February. On the other hand, month-ahead business sentiment rose more substantially among domestically-orientated firms. The improvement among these firms was likely linked to the seeming end of the Bank of Korea’s hiking cycle in February.