Korea will likely see a slow economic recovery as various indices ranging from domestic consumption to exports registered lackluster figures, a state-run think tank said on Sunday.

Exports, the country’s main growth engine, dropped about 9 percent in February from a year ago, but Korea was able to record a trade balance surplus of some $2 billion, the Korea Development Institute said in the report.

The fall in exports is in part due to sluggish outbound shipments of ships and automobiles, as well as less working days in February.

KDI expects that exports will gradually recover toward the second half of 2013 as the global economy heads for recovery.

Also, private consumption fell into negative territory in January with the retail sales index posting minus 2.8 percent in terms of growth, a sharp decrease from a 2-percent increase in December last year.

The slowdown in retail sales is largely due to the slump in automobile sales, KDI said, as Korea ceased to give consumption tax cut benefits.

Despite the slowdown, consumers were optimistic about the economy down the road as the sentiment index remained stable at 102 in February. A reading above 100 means optimism exceeds pessimism.

The bleak outlook is further justified by weak industrial production and services.

Korea’s industrial production had a negative 1.5 percent growth rate in January due to slow production of chips and industrial parts.

Services also showed an increase rate of minus 0.9 percent in the same period as activities in wholesale, retail trade, real estate leasing and education services decreased.

Transport, information and communications services, however, remained solid, maintaining an increase in growth.

Meanwhile, Korea’s facility investment fell by 13.6 percent in January.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)