SEOUL, March 25 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's consumer sentiment worsened in March owing to lingering economic uncertainties at home and abroad, central bank data showed Tuesday.
The composite consumer sentiment index, which gauges the sentiment of consumers over economic situation, fell 1.8 points from a month earlier to 93.4 in March after going up for the past two months, according to the Bank of Korea.
The downturn was attributed to uncertainties at home and abroad such as sluggish consumption and slower export growth.
The sub-index for current economic situation was unchanged at 55 in March compared to the previous month, but the index for economic outlook retreated 3 points to 70.
Inflation expectations, which measure the outlook among consumers over headline inflation for the next 12 months, made no change at 2.7 percent in March on a monthly basis.
After peaking at 4.7 percent in July 2022, inflation expectations had roughly been on the decline.
The results were based on a survey of 2,313 households conducted from March 11 to 18. ■
