Korea – May consumer confidence
The strength of buying intentions and especially price expectations in this month's consumer confidence survey will keep the BOK hawkish at its Thursday meeting.
Overall, consumer confidence was flattish in May. That means it remains at quite a high level, and suggests private consumption is growing by around 2% YoY.
There are two areas of the survey that remain particularly strong. One is spending intentions, which rose again in May to reach the highest level recorded since 2011. The other was inflationary expectations, which increased notably in May for the fifth consecutive month.
The strength in these two indicators more than outweigh the slight fall in property price expectations. There is little in this release to keep the BOK from hiking rates again on Thursday.
