The resurgence of Covid-19 cases is adding uncertainty to the recovery path of South Korea’s domestic spending, warned the Ministry of Economy and Finance in its latest economic outlook report published on Friday.

The ministry said the uncertainty is growing in its monthly report again as the country has set records for new cases in the past week. Until last month, the ministry had been confident about economic recovery on brisk export growth and a rebound in domestic spending, with the job market recovering from slumps.

Although expectations for global economic recovery remain high, inflation concerns are also rising while new Covid-19 variants are rapidly spreading across the world, said the ministry.

Korea is experiencing its worst outbreak of Covid-19 with new daily infection cases averaging above 1,500 this week and the count exceeding 1,000 for 10 days in a row since July 7.

The fourth wave of infections that had concentrated in and around the capital city of Seoul has begun to spread to other regions with the start of the summer holiday season.

To curb the virus spread, the Korean government has restricted social gatherings to four people during the daytime and to two after 6 p.m. in metropolitan Seoul. The government is also mulling to raise the mitigation measures in other regions, limiting the social gathering group size to four people.

By Pulse

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]