Korea's economic status among the OECD countries

Korea’s economic status among the OECD countries

The continued economic slowdown in South Korea has affected country's worldwide economic status. South Korea's inflation rate was the fifth highest among the member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2003. The National Statistical Office (NSO) said that Korea's consumer prices soared by 3.6% in 2003. The country ranks fifth after Turkey with 24.3%, Slovakia with 8.6% and Hungary with 4.6% and Mexico with 4.5%. Korea placed fifth in GDP growth (Gross Domestic Product) as its economy grew by 3.1% in 2003, down from the second position in 2002 when it recorded 7% growth. Korea accounted for 5.2% of total global vehicle production. The US, which is in the first position, accounted for 19.9% of total output, while Japan recorded 16.9% and Germany 9.1%. In addition, China held the fourth spot with 7.2% of the global output. South Korea, which produced 46.3 million tons of crude steel in 2003 and accounted for 4.8% of total output, ranked fifth in crude steel production. China topped the crude steel production chart with a 22.8% of share, followed by Japan with 11.5%, the US with 9.4% and Russia with 6.5%.