BloombergSouth Korea’s exports rose for the first time in more than a year on semiconductor sales, an increase that might be short-lived as the COVID-19 outbreak takes its toll on world trade. Exports increased 4.5 percent last month from a year earlier, the South Korean Ministry of Trade Industry and Energy said yesterday. South Korea is an important bellwether of global tech demand, because it is the biggest producer of the memory chips in everything from computers to smartphones. South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday last week called for “extraordinary” steps to shield the nation’s economy against the virus epidemic as the number of domestic cases increase. South Korean Minister of Finance Hong Nam-ki on Friday said that the government is compiling an extra budget with more than US$5.1 billion in spending aid.

Source: Taipei Times March 01, 2020 15:56 UTC