SEOUL : South Korea’s export growth is expected to slow sharply to a 20-month low in June, contributing to a record trade deficit, though the data will be dragged down by temporary factors, such as a trucking strike.
Consumer inflation, meanwhile, is seen accelerating to near 6 per cent, a Reuters survey showed on Tuesday.
Outbound shipments for the month are projected to be just 3.8 per cent higher than a year earlier, according to a median forecast of 23 economists.
Such a rise would make June the 20th consecutive month to show annual growth but would also be the weakest in that series of expansions and fall far short of the 21.3 per cent gain seen in May.
But two temporary effects are suppressing exports this month. One has been a week-long strike by truckers, which held up deliveries to ports; the other is the month having two fewer working days than June last year.
In the first 20 days of the month, exports were down 3.4 per…
