SEOUL (XINHUA) – Sentiment among South Korean consumers over the economic situation worsened in February amid the surging COVID-19 cases, central bank data showed yesterday.
The composite consumer sentiment index (CCSI) stood at 103.1 in February, down 1.3 points from the prior month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The worsened sentiment came as the COVID-19 cases surged in recent weeks amid spread of the Omicron variant of the virus.
In the latest tally, the Asian country reported 99,573 more COVID-19 cases for the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 2,157,734. The daily caseload has hovered around 100,000 for the past week.
Sub-indices lost ground. The index for the current economic situation slipped one point over the month to 75 in February, and the reading for future economic conditions declined two points to 91. Inflation expectations, which gauge outlook among consumers over headline inflation for the next 12 months, came in at 2.7 per cent in February, up 0.1 percentage point from the previous month.
