<Anchor> In the



domestic stock market, the KOSPI fell below the 2,900 line, recording the lowest level this year. It is the fifth consecutive month of decline since July. Even more worrisome is that industrial production, which had been gradually increasing, fell nearly 2% compared to last month, the biggest decline in a year and a half. In this situation, as the global economy is again covered with dark clouds due to the novel coronavirus mutation, the red light is also lit on Korea's achievement of its economic growth target.



Reporter Jeong Da-eun will tell you.



<Reporter> The



sharp drop in industrial production in October was largely due to the global supply shortage.



Mining industry fell 3%, with automobile production dropping more than 5% due to disruptions in the supply and demand of semiconductors for vehicles.



However, consumption rose 0.2% from September as purchases of winter clothes and heating products increased.



[Jang Seo-hee / Gwangmyeong-si, Gyeonggi-do: I came out to buy my brother's winter clothes. As the weather got cold, I came out to buy a thin knit or coat that I could wear under the padding.]



Statistics Korea explains that the number of working days was given due to two replacement holidays that occurred suddenly in October, and the decrease was large due to the base effect, which had a good performance in September.



However, it is evaluated that the vulnerability of the Korean economy to threats such as global supply shortages and inflation has been exposed.



In addition, the uncertainty of the Korean economy in the fourth quarter has grown even more as the salient variable called the omicron mutation exploded.



If countries around the world tighten the lockdown again, the Korean economy, which is highly dependent on foreign countries, will inevitably suffer both exports and imports.



[Oh Jeong-geun/Professor of Economics at Konkuk University: (economic growth rate) to 4%, at least 1.2% in the fourth quarter should come out, but in my view, it is not possible to reach that level due to production disruptions due to such Omicron…

.] As



these concerns grow, it is an analysis that our KOSPI showed a bigger drop while stock markets around the world were chaotic due to the threat of Omicron.



(Video editing: Seunghee Lee, VJ: Hyunwoo Park)