South Korea business sentiment suffers worst monthly fall in 17 years

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean businesses sentiment suffered its worst monthly fall in 17 years as firms fretted over the coronavirus pandemic and the impact on demand at home and from abroad, a central bank survey showed.

Published by the Bank of Korea on Tuesday, the manufacturing BSI for April plunged to 52 on a seasonally adjusted basis from 66 for March, logging the biggest monthly drop since April 2003.

The index reading was the lowest since March 2009 when it stood at 47. And it was far below 100, which indicates the number of companies expecting business conditions to deteriorate outweighed those seeing an improvement.

South Korea has suffered the largest coronavirus outbreak in Asia outside China and reported 78 new infections on Monday, raising the national tally to 9,661.

The non-manufacturing BSI, which covers the service sector, also fell to a seasonally adjusted 52 for April, the lowest on record since release of the data began in February 2003, and from 66 for March. The monthly decline was the sharpest ever.

The finance ministry said on Monday it would draw up a second supplementary budget worth 7.1 trillion won ($5.80 billion). The country has already cut interest rates, rolled out a 11.7 trillion won supplementary budget and a rescue package for companies totalling 100 trillion won.

The latest BSI was compiled from a survey of 3,160 corporate enterprises between March 16-23.

(Reporting by Joori Roh; editing by Nick Macfie)