South Korea’s business sentiment remains below par

For the second month in a row, South Korea’s business sentiment remained below par in February due to high raw material prices and global supply chain disruptions, according to data from the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI). The business survey index (BSI) of the country’s top 600 companies by sales came to 99.7 in February, up 3.2 points from January but still below the 100 benchmark. A reading below 100 indicates that pessimists outnumber optimists, while a figure above the benchmark means the opposite. The FKI said the weak February reading can be attributed to concerns on rising material costs, global supply chain bottlenecks, and economic slowdown in China.