Business sentiment in South Korea plunged to an 11-year low for April, due to the growing impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic on the domestic economy.

According to the Korea Economic Research Institute(KERI) on Monday, the Business Survey Index(BSI) of the country's top 600 companies by sales came to 59-point-three for April, the lowest since January 2009, following the 2008 global financial crisis.

A reading below 100 means pessimists outnumber optimists, while a figure above the benchmark refers to the opposite.

It also marked a monthly drop of 25-point-one points, the biggest since January 1998.

The institute said while the index dropped over 46 points during a five-month period following the 2008 financial crisis, it fell more than 30 points in the past two months, reflecting how businesses are sensing the crisis.

The think tank added that the current business sentiment is worse than it was a decade ago due to a combined effect of weakened spending from social distancing and supply shock from operation setbacks.