Korean Consumer Sentiment Dips in Q4

South Korea's consumer sentiment plunged in the fourth quarter as Koreans became more pessimistic about their living conditions and the economy, a central bank survey showed on Monday.

According to the poll by the Bank of Korea, the consumer survey index -- a gauge of consumers' overall sense of their economic outlook, living conditions and future spending -- dropped to 106 in the October-December period from a five-year high of 112 in the preceding quarter.

Throughout the year, the index has managed to stay above the benchmark 100, meaning optimists outnumber pessimists. The survey of 2,434 households in 30 cities nationwide was taken Dec. 3-14.

"The number of people with negative assessments of the current living conditions and bearish outlooks on the future situation increased," the central bank said in the report. "People's assessment on the present and future economy nose-dived."

The report comes as record-setting oil prices and the global credit crunch threaten to cool growth in Asia's third-largest economy. The central bank projects the economy to expand 4.7 percent on-year in 2008, down from an estimated 4.8 percent rise this year.

To spur economic growth amid negative factors, the BOK froze the key rate for the fourth straight month in December despite growing inflationary pressures.

The price of Dubai crude oil, South Korea's benchmark, surged 57.5 percent this year to hit a record-high US$90.1 a barrel as of Nov. 26. The BOK expects that annual inflation will grow 3.3 percent next year, up from an estimated 2.5 percent this year.