Korea’s economy grew 0.3% in the third quarter (July-September) as private consumption increased due to lifting of social distancing, and investment in facilities, centered on 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 was 0.3%.
The negative quarterly growth rate (-) was recorded 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% ) this year
In the third quarter, private consumption increased by 1.9%, focusing on durable goods such as cars and services such as food and accommodation. Investment in facilities increased by 5.0% as machinery and transport equipment, including semiconductor equipment, increased. Construction investment also increased by 0.4% along with the expansion of non-residential building construction, while government consumption increased by 0.2%, mainly in terms of spending on goods. Despite the slowdown in semiconductors, exports increased by 1.0% thanks to rapid 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%) focused on crude oil and machinery and equipment was about six times greater than exports. This is because the terms of trade have deteriorated as import prices such as crude oil are generally higher than export prices.
Earlier in September, the BOK predicted that the BOK could 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 greaterfool@hankyung.com
