The Korean economy grew 0.3% in the third quarter (July-September) as private consumption increased due to the lifting of social distancing, and facility investment mainly in semiconductors increased.
The Bank of Korea announced on the 27th that the real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate (preliminary estimate, quarter-on-quarter) in the third quarter of this year stood at 0.3%.
The quarterly growth rate recorded negative (-) in the first quarter of 2020 (-1.3%) and the second quarter (-3.0%) due to the pandemic, followed by the third quarter (2.3%), the fourth quarter (1.2%) and the first quarter of 2021. (1.7%), the second quarter (0.8%), the third quarter (0.2%), the fourth quarter (1.3%), the first quarter (0.6%), and the second quarter (0.7%) of this year. kept
In the third quarter, private consumption increased by 1.9%, centering on durable goods such as cars and services such as food and lodging. Facility investment grew 5.0% as both machinery and transportation equipment, including semiconductor equipment, increased. Construction investment also increased by 0.4% along with the expansion of non-residential building construction, while government consumption rose 0.2% mainly on goods expenses. Despite the sluggishness of semiconductors, exports increased by 1.0% thanks to brisk exports of transportation equipment and services, breaking the trend of negative growth (-3.1%) in the second quarter.
However, the import growth rate (5.8%) centered on crude oil and machinery and equipment was regarding six times that of exports. This is because the terms of trade have deteriorated as import prices such as crude oil are higher than export prices.
Earlier in September, the BOK predicted that it would reach the BOK’s forecast for this year’s growth rate (2.6%) if it grows by 0.1 to 0.2% (QoQ) in the third and fourth quarters.
Shin Hyun-bo, reporter at Hankyung.com [email protected]