SEOUL, 25th April, 2024 (WAM) — South Korea’s economy grew at the fastest pace in over two years in the first quarter of 2024 on the back of a continued recovery in exports and a rise in construction investment, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing data from the central bank on Thursday.
The country’s real gross domestic product increased at a higher-than-expected rate of 1.3 percent on-quarter in the January-March period, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The first-quarter expansion beat the market estimate of 0.6 percent and the 0.6 percent on-quarter expansion in September-December.
The reading marks the highest since the fourth quarter of 2021, when the economy expanded by 1.4 percent.
On a yearly basis, South Korea’s economy advanced 3.4 percent in the first quarter, higher than the 2.2 percent growth for the last quarter of 2023.
Private spending rose 0.8 percent in the January-March period, compared with a 0.2 percent advance in the previous quarter.
The country’s exports climbed 0.9 percent in the first quarter, slowing from the previous quarter’s 3.5 percent gain, while imports declined 0.7 percent from a 1.4 percent increase the previous quarter.
Government spending gained 0.7 percent, and construction investment went up 2.7 percent in the first quarter, a shift from the previous quarter’s 4.5 percent dip.
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