South Korea's economy has already bottomed out and is expected to recover at the fastest pace out of the world's major countries as output expands and other indicators show signs of stabilization, Yonhap News Agency reported Thursday, quoting a report.
According to the report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the composite leading indicator (CLI) for South Korea increased to 96.8 in March, up 2.2 points from 94.6 a month earlier.
The CLI is an indicator that gauges how the economy will fare six months ahead by measuring industrial output, housing and financial market conditions, and the gross domestic product of each nation. A reading below 100 means the economy will continue to shrink.
South Korea's CLI remains below par but the 2.2-point increase was the steepest improvement among the 29 OECD member nations, the report showed. It is the second consecutive month that the nation has posted the sharpest increase in the indicator.
Only 10 countries posted an improvement, with Turkey seeing its March CLI rise 1.4 points, the second steepest, followed by Mexico and France with increases of 1.3 points and 1.1 points, respectively, the report showed.
The OECD average stood at 92.2, down 0.2 points from a month earlier, according to the report, indicating South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, will likely fare far better than its rival countries down the road.
Hit by a protracted global downturn, the South Korean economy is feared to contract 2.4 percent this year, the first minus growth in more than a decade, according to the latest prediction by the central bank.
However, as the government rushes to unveil a series of stimulus measures including additional fiscal spending, indicators are showing some signs of stabilization.
Industrial output shrank 8.2 percent in April from a year earlier, decelerating from a 10.5 percent year-on-year decline in March. The April figure marked the first time that output has decreased by a single digit after contracting 10 percent or higher over the previous five months.