S.Korea's retail sales recover modestly after MERS outbreak

South Korea's retail sales recovered modestly from the sharp decline caused by the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), a government report showed Tuesday. "Recently, our economy showed a recovery in production and investment,"the finance ministry said in its monthly economic assessment report called Green Book.

The ministry, however, noted that the MERS effect still dragged down consumption and the service industry amid the low headline inflation.

The deadly viral disease, the first case of which was found on May 20, had infected 186 people, killing 36 among them. The South Korean government declared the de-facto end of the MERS crisis last month as no new case of infection has been reported for more than three weeks.

As of Tuesday, the MERS infection case was unchanged at 186 for 37 days in a row. The death toll had no change at 36 for 31 straight days.

Sales in department stores rose 0.9 percent in July from a year earlier after tumbling 11.9 percent in the previous month. Revenue in discount outlets slid 1.9 percent last month, down from a 10.2 percent drop in June.

Credit card usage surged 14.5 percent on-year in July, up from an 8.6 percent increase in June. Domestic car sales by South Korean automakers rose 3.6 percent last month, down from a 9.4 percent decline in June.

Sales of gasoline and diesel declined 2.9 percent in July from a year earlier after rising 1 percent in June.

To bolster the MERS-hit economy, the central bank cut its policy rate by a quarter percentage point to an all-time low of 1. 5 percent in June after lowering it by the same extent in March.

The government unveiled about 20 billion U.S. dollars of stimulus package, including a supplementary budget for the second half. Endi