The mining and manufacturing production in general maintained its growth momentum for June, recording (year-on-year basis, 6.4 percent), which was slightly down from the previous month (year-on-year 8.1 percent). In the industrial sectors of automobile (10.1 percent) and chemical products (7.4 percent), the monthly growth rate was relatively high, whereas the rate of semiconductor and parts decreased to –3.7 percent. The growth rate of retail sales index recorded 5.6 percent, similar to the previous month (year-on-year basis 6.3 percent), and an increase of 1.3 percent on a month-on-month basis. The CPI inflation for July recorded 4.7 percent, up from the previous month (4.4 percent), due to a faster pace of increase in goods prices amid the continuing inflation in service prices.

  The global economy showed deterioration in some sentiment indices, while fiscal crisis-related risk factors are not fully resolved amid continuing sluggishness in employment. The global financial markets face a growing uncertainty as risk factors of the fiscal crisis in the Euro zone persist and as the U.S. debt ceiling adjustment issue surfaces. The Korean economy may slow down due to the growing uncertainty in advanced economies.