SEOUL, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's growth momentum remained unsolid given the production correction that offset recovering exports and consumption, a government report showed Tuesday.
"Exports and investment continued to grow thanks to global economic recovery, while private consumption's slump slowed. But the recovering trend is not solid given the production correction in mining and manufacturing industries," the finance ministry said its monthly economic assessment report called Green Book.
Exports, which account for about half of the economy, jumped 19.5 percent in July from a year earlier, keeping a growth trend for the ninth consecutive month.
Retail sales, which reflect private consumption, rose 1.1 percent in June, after falling 1.1 percent in the prior month.
Car sales in the domestic market increased 9.8 percent in July from a year ago, marking the first expansion in five months. Gasoline and diesel sales posted a double-digit growth last month on the back of the summer vacation season.
However, department store sales inched up 0.1 percent in July, after rising 0.8 percent in the previous month. Sales in convenient stores grew 1 percent in July, down from a 1.6 percent increase in June.
The number of Chinese tourists visiting South Korea tumbled 67.8 percent in July, hitting hardest duty-free shop operators and the tourism industry.
Facility investment increased 5.3 percent in June, but investment in the construction sector kept a downward trend for the third consecutive month.
Production in the mining and manufacturing industries fell 0.2 percent in June from a month earlier. Output in the services sector rose 0.5 percent.
The ministry said that though the economy's growth momentum would last in the second half of this year thanks to exports recovery and improved consumption, risk factors would remain at home and abroad such as trade issue, the normalization of accommodative monetary policies in major economies and the geopolitical risks on the Korean Peninsula.
Tensions escalated on the peninsula after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s test-launch on July 28 of what it called an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
On Saturday, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a new resolution toughening sanctions on the DPRK, which ban mineral and seafood exports.
