LCs at Seven-Year Low

The letters of credit(LC) for exports are at their lowest level in seven years, according to the Bank of Korea(BOK) on March 10.
The bank reported that the total of LCs received in January reached 4 billion dollars, which is 11.3 percent less than the same period of 1998. It is also the lowest since February 1992's 3.9 billion.
LCs have been declining for 15 consecutive months, since November 1997, as a result of the economic recession.
The total amount of LCs in 1998 marked 57 billion dollars, 15 percent less than in 1997.
Exporting through LCs is the most common way of trading.
The reason for the low amount of LCs is due to the lingering economic recession plus Korea's major export recipients such as Japan and Southeast Asian countries are struggling under a financial crisis, so there are far less orders.
Experts predict that Korea's exports will continue to slump for at least the first half of the year.