SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's finance ministry on Tuesday expressed worries about weak consumption, caused by political uncertainties at home, despite recent signs of export recovery.
The ministry said in its monthly economic assessment report, called Green Book, that exports improved more or less, helping production and investment rebound in recent months.
The report, however, cautioned that consumer spending remained sluggish and led to slowing domestic demand.
South Korea's exports, which account for about half of the export-driven economy, rose for two straight months to December. The on-year growth rate accelerated from 2.5 percent in November to 6.4 percent in December.
Helped by the export increase, production in the mining and manufacturing industries rebounded 3.4 percent in November from a 1.3 percent fall in the previous month. Facility investment expanded 5.9 percent in November compared with a month ago, up from a 0.6 percent gain in October.
Private consumption, however, slowed down. Retail sales in November fell 0.2 percent compared with the previous month, due mainly to political turmoil following the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye that resulted in the absence of economic control tower.
The government plans to frontload its 2017 budget in the January-March quarter as part of efforts to invigorate the lackluster domestic demand, but it remains uncertain about a recovery in consumer spending.
Consumer prices rose 1.3 percent in November from a year earlier, down from a 1.5 percent increase in the prior month.
The number of those employed in November expanded 339,000 compared with a year earlier, but manufacturers continued to cut jobs amid the slowing recovery.
