Following three consecutive monthly increases, the Conference Board's leading economic index for South Korea fell two-tenths of a percentage point in August, the most recent month for which data are available. The leading index now stands at 146.6 (1990=100). The leading index had recently been growing at an annual rate of 4% to 5%.
South Korea's GDP, adjusted for inflation, grew at an annual rate of 5% in the second quarter of this year, more than three times the 1.6% annual rate recorded during the first quarter. "The recent behavior of the leading index is consistent with continued moderate economic growth in the near term," says the Conference Board, a New York-based business research group.
