SEOUL – South Korean manufacturers’ business sentiment for February weakened to the worst level in over two years, a central bank survey showed on Friday, hurt by heightened uncertainty over the economic outlook.
An index that measures the business outlook for the manufacturing sector dropped to 66 for February, on a seasonally adjusted basis, from 71 for January, according to the Bank of Korea’s survey of 3,255 companies, conducted during Jan. 10-17 nationwide. It was the lowest reading since October 2020.In the survey, 26.5 percent of manufacturing firms cited uncertain economic conditions as a major difficulty, up from 22 percent a month before.
An index for the non-manufacturing sector fell to 72 from 76. It also marked the lowest level since December 2020.