Korea’s dependence on trade rose to an all-time high last year, data showed Wednesday, spawning concerns the country could become more vulnerable to the slumping global economy.

The ratio measuring Korea’s reliance on trade for growth stood at a record 113.2 percent last year, up from 105.2 percent in 2010, according to data by the central bank. The ratio measures the value of exports and imports against gross national income.

The ratio, which largely hovered near the 80-percent range in the mid-2000s, jumped to 110.7 percent in 2008, when the global financial crisis, driven by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, drove it down to 98.8 percent. Since then, the ratio has risen to more than 100 percent, the data showed.

The country’s deeper reliance on trade indicates Asia’s fourth-largest economy has managed recovery on the back of exports following the financial crisis, market watchers said.

However, they warned the higher ratio is a concern as South Korea is vulnerable to changes in external economic conditions at a time the global economy is losing steam, beset by the protracted eurozone debt crisis.

South Korea’s exports grew nearly 20 percent on-year to a record high of $556.5 billion last year, making the country the world’s seventh-largest exporter. Imports expanded 23.3 percent on-year to $524.4 billion in 2011.

At the same time, the eurozone debt crisis and China’s slowing economy have begun to affect Korea’s overseas shipments with exports falling 8.8 percent in July from a year earlier.

The South Korean economy grew 0.4 percent in the second quarter from three months earlier as overseas shipments fell and the growth of consumer spending slowed amid the European crisis.

In the second quarter, exports declined 0.6 percent on-quarter, after growing 3 percent in the preceding quarter. (Yonhap News)