The finance ministry said Friday that it will set aside a supplementary budget to help create jobs, a key campaign pledge of Presidential Moon Jae-in.

"We will create jobs through aggressive macroeconomic policies, including a supplementary budget," the ministry said in its monthly economy assessment report called the "Green Book."

The ministry also vowed to revitalize Asia's fourth-largest economy, which is showing signs of a recovery on increased exports.

It marked the first time that the finance ministry has mentioned the possibility of drawing up an extra budget for job creation since Moon took office earlier this week.

Moon has pledged to get a 10 trillion won ($8.8 billion) extra budget from parliament in the first year of his presidency so the public sector can hire more people.

Fitch Ratings, a major global credit appraiser, said earlier this week fiscal policy might become more expansionary under the new government, citing Moon's pledge to use stimulus to create jobs.

Global investment giant Goldman Sachs said it expects a modest supplementary budget of less than 1 percent of South Korea's gross domestic product.

Last year, the South Korean government also set aside an extra budget of 11 trillion won to prop up the faltering economy.

Outbound shipments rose 24.2 percent year-over-year to $51 billion in April on a sharp increase in ships, semiconductors and steel products, according to the Green Book.

Industrial output rose 1.1 percent in March from a month earlier on increased production in cars and electronic parts.

Year-over-year, industrial output increased 3.2 percent on a sharp rise in semiconductors and machinery.

The pace of growth in retail sales slowed to 0 percent in March from 3.2 percent a month earlier.

In April, department stores and discount outlets saw their sales rise 0.5 percent and 6.8 percent from a year ago, respectively, despite a 65.1 percent plunge in the number of Chinese tourists.

The data compiled by the Korea Tourism Organization showed that a total of 360,782 Chinese visited South Korea in March, compared with 601,671 from a year earlier.

China has banned the sale of tour packages to South Korea in an apparent retaliation against Seoul over a US missile defense system in South Korea.

The composite consumer sentiment index came to 101.2 in April, up from 96.7 percent in March. (Yonhap)