The government is considering introducing daylight saving time next summer to kick-start domestic demand, officials said Sunday, in a move aimed at offsetting a drop in exports.

Daylight saving time is the practice of setting clocks one hour earlier during the summer months so that there is an extra hour of daylight.  

"The government is contemplating a variety of measures to energize consumer spending, including the introduction of daylight saving time next year," a finance ministry official said.

Such consumption-boosting measures are needed because South Korea is not expected to see a great improvement in its exports in 2016 due to unfavorable external conditions, such as a slowdown in China, its largest trading partner, he said.

South Korea's exports fell 4.7 percent on-year to $44.43 billion in November, with the country's overseas shipments dropping every single month since the start of the year.

The move comes after a package of government steps to spur consumption following the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome proved to be effective.

Household spending hit its nadir in the April-June period as people avoided public venues out of fear of catching the disease that claimed 38 lives here.

According to central bank data, the South Korean economy grew 1.3 percent in the third quarter from three months earlier, the highest reading since the 1.7 percent growth tallied in the second quarter of 2010, aided by a rebound in domestic demand and the brisk property market.

South Korea had used the daylight saving time system from 1948-56 and 1987-88. The government had tried to introduce it in 1997, 2007 and 2009, to tide over economic difficulties, but in vain.

Among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, South Korea and Iceland have not officially adopted daylight saving time, according to the finance ministry. (Yonhap)