On Tuesday, data released by the Bank of Korea (BOK) revealed that South Korea’s real gross domestic product (GDP) had grown at a slightly faster rate in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the previous three months, despite a decline in exports.
The nation’s economy expanded by 0.6 percent in the April-June period, matching earlier projections, and was higher than the 0.3 percent growth in the first quarter.
Since the fourth quarter of 2022, when the economy contracted by 0.3 percent, South Korea has been on a path of recovery. On an annual basis, the country’s economic growth was 0.9 percent in the second quarter, the same as the first quarter’s year-on-year increase.
Worries persist, however, that aggressive monetary tightening in major countries, including the United States, could cause a global economic downturn. The central bank has kept its growth outlook for the year at 1.4 percent, but acknowledged that there are still high levels of uncertainty surrounding the Chinese economy, growth in major economies, and the timing of a recovery in the IT sector.
The Bank of Korea has held the key interest rate steady at 3.5 percent for the fifth consecutive time, following seven consecutive rate hikes from April 2022 to January 2023. In 2022, the South Korean economy grew 2.6 percent, a slowdown from the 4.3 percent growth rate the previous year due to monetary tightening both domestically and internationally. This marked the slowest rate of growth since 2020, when the economy contracted 0.7 percent due to the pandemic.
Containers are stacked at a pier in South Korea's largest port city of Busan, in this July 4, 2023, file photo. (Yonhap)
sam@yna.co.kr
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