SEOUL, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- The South Korean government saw a robust economic recovery driven by surging exports, a finance ministry report said Friday.
The Ministry of Finance and Economy said in its monthly report, called Green Book, that the Asian economy recently showed a continuous trend of robust economic recovery, with exports growing significantly, investment increasing at a solid pace, and consumption improving gradually.
The ministry, however, cautioned that while uncertainties coming from the Middle East conflicts somewhat expanded, burdens on people's livelihoods persisted, including inflationary pressures from high oil prices and difficult conditions to find jobs among vulnerable groups.
The ministry highlighted remaining challenges, including Middle East conflicts and U.S. tariff measures.
The outbound shipments soared 83.5 percent in September from a year earlier, while the daily average exports more than doubled on surging demand for memory chips and solid-state drives (SSDs) used for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
Revised gross domestic product (GDP) data showed that facility investment climbed 6.3 percent year-on-year in the second quarter.
Private consumption increased 2.4 percent in the second quarter, but retail sales in August declined 1.8 percent on a monthly basis.
The composite consumer sentiment index (CCSI) gained 2.1 points over the month to 106.6 in September, providing a positive signal for domestic demand in the coming months.
Consumer prices rose 2.9 percent in September from a year earlier, slightly lower than an increase of 3.1 percent in August.
The number of jobs was up 113,000 year-on-year in September, staying in the 100,000 range for a third consecutive month.
