Subsidies were granted for secondary disasters, but consumption in October -0.9%

The indicators of production, consumption and investment stopped again a month after the increase. According to the “ October Industrial Activity Trend ” released on the 30th by the National Statistical Institute, last month’s production recorded a similar level (0%) to that of a month ago. Last month, the retail sales index fell 0.9% from the previous month despite the second payment for disaster relief and investment in facilities fell by 3.3%.

This is quite different from what Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki and the Minister of Strategy and Finance said in the September news of the “triple increase” of the main industrial indicators as “a significant result that illuminates the outlook for the fourth quarter. “.

The government first cited the base effect as the cause of the slow indicators. As the indicators were positive in September, there was a relatively negative “optical illusion effect” in October. Unlike last year, the National Bureau of Statistics explains that this year, unlike last year, the Chuseok was held in early October and retail sales were concentrated in late September.

The 1.2% increase in service production is positive. It is the largest increase in 4 months. The government believes this is due to the fact that the social distancing phase was temporarily eased to the first phase last month. Thanks to this, the production of the hospitality and catering businesses increased by 13.3%, but sales of non-durable goods such as food and drinks, consumed mainly at home, decreased by 5.7%. Companies have cut back on their investments. Although investments in machinery (1.9%) increased, investments in transport equipment (-14.9%) such as aircraft decreased dramatically and total investments in facilities decreased by 3.3% from the previous month .

The cyclical fluctuation of the coincident index, which shows the current economic situation, rose by 0.5 points, and the cyclical fluctuation of the leading index, which predicts the future economic phase, also rose by 0.4 points, recording a combined increase for five consecutive months. The National Statistical Office explained: “With the increase in uncertainty after the spread of Corona 19, the predictive power of the indicator is limited.”

Sejong = Reporter Seongbin Lim [email protected]