Economic Indicators Return to Pre-Crisis Levels

Concrete and measurable economic indicators suggest a return to the nation's haydays.
The business situation started to stretch itself late last year and accelerated from this March, recovering to levels last seen prior to the foreign currency crisis and ensuing economic recession.
The Bureau of Statistics on April 29 announced its 'Industrial Trend in March' report which shows that the increasing rate of production in March compared to the same month of 1998 reached 18.4 percent. This is the highest jump since February 1995's 19.3 percent.
The average rate of manufacturing capacity was 74.6 percent, also close to the level of late 1997's 75.7 percent.
Due to the sharp boost of the economic index, the total industrial index marked 121.1 points, easily surpassing 118.5 recorded in October 1997.
Facility Investment increased 25.1 percent, reflecting business groups' optimism on future economic prospects.
Hwashik Bong : trojans@joongang.co.kr