South Korea’s consumer sentiment turned sharply negative in February and fell by the most in five years, even though the country is in the early stages of grappling with the new coronavirus.

The composite consumer index lost 7.3 points from the previous month to 96.9 in February, falling at the fast pace since June 2015 in the wake of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) epidemic, Bank of Korea data showed Tuesday.

The latest virus scare reversed the recovery trend in consumer sentiment. The index has been moving upward since last September and hit a 17-month high in January amid eased trade tensions.

A reading below 100 means more people are pessimistic about the economy.

The survey was conducted on Feb. 10-17 and does not reflect the latest spike in infections from Feb. 20. As of Tuesday, Korea reported 843 infected patients and eight deaths, with most of the cases concentrated in the southeastern city of Daegu and its surrounding province. The latest turn of events has prompted the government to raise its virus alert to the highest level.

This is the third-largest monthly decline in the index since the bank started compiling the data in 2008.

The steepest fall was in October 2008 when the index plunged 12.7 points in the wake of the global financial crisis. The second was the 11.1-point fall in March 2011 after Japan’s devastating earthquake and nuclear meltdown.

During the MERS outbreak in June 2015, the index had slipped 7.3 points, the same as the latest reading, but bounced back the following month and extended the gains through November.

The latest data showed that households were pessimistic about the overall economy, including job opportunities and income.

The index measuring expectations of future consumption and household income each slipped 4 points to 106 and 97, respectively.

The index tracking sentiment of current economic conditions plunged 12 points to 66, with the index representing the future economic outlook also dipping 11 points to 76.

The index reflecting expectations of job opportunities fell 7 points to 81, the lowest reading since last October.

By Kim Hyo-jin

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