South Korea's monthly household spending stayed flat in the second quarter from a year ago amid a protracted economic slowdown, a government report showed Friday.

An average household spent 2.49 million won ($2,245) per month in the April-June period, remaining unchanged from the same period a year earlier, according to the report by Statistics Korea.


The average consumption propensity, or the ratio of total consumption spending to disposable income, stood at 70.9 percent, down 0.7 percentage point from the year before and the lowest reading since the government started compiling related data in 2003.

"As the country is rapidly aging, the breadwinner in a family gets older," said the statistics agency. "Those in their 50s and 60s have lower consumption propensity than people aged 30 or 40."

Spending on cigarette and alcohol rose 7.1 percent on-year and health-related expenses grew 3.7 percent over the cited period, while people reduced their spending on home appliances and furniture by 5.1 percent and foodstuffs and groceries by 4.2 percent.

The flaccid household spending came as Asia's fourth-largest economy has been struggling with faltering exports which posted a record 19th consecutive month of negative growth in July.

The country's gross domestic product grew 0.7 percent in the second quarter, slightly up from the previous quarter's 0.5 percent.

The report also showed that the average household brought home some 4.3 million won per month in the second quarter, a gain of 0.8 percent on-year. Of these, earned income rose 1.9 percent, while wealth transfer increased 3.8 percent.

Household disposable income edged up 1 percent on-year to 3.48 million won, with the earnings surplus growing 3.6 percent on-year to 1 million won, the report showed. (Yonhap)