ID :
205397
Tue, 09/06/2011 - 03:50
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/205397
The shortlink copeid
S. Korean economy grows revised 0.9 pct in Q2
SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean economy grew at a faster pace than previously estimated in the second quarter as improved construction investments offset slowing exports, the central bank said Tuesday.
The country's gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic performance, grew a revised 0.9 percent in the April-June period from three months earlier, slightly up from an earlier estimate of a 0.8 percent expansion, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
Although the second-quarter growth slowed from a 1.3 percent on-quarter gain, the Korean economy has now logged positive growth for 10 straight quarters.
Compared with a year earlier, Asia's fourth-largest economy grew 3.4 percent, the same pace as earlier forecast, the central bank added.
The data came two days before BOK policymakers hold a monthly rate-setting meeting amid dimmer global economic outlooks.
Many analysts predicted that the BOK is likely to freeze the key rate at 3.25 percent for the third straight month on Thursday even as the August inflation hit a 3-year high.
The BOK earlier said that the local economy is on a steady growth track, but its external economic conditions are unnerving local policymakers in gauging the timing of a rate increase.
The prospects for the global economy are getting bleaker as the first-ever U.S. credit downgrade and the eurozone sovereign risks are raising concerns that the global economy may slide back into a recession.
Debate over a third round of quantitative easing, known as QE3 in markets, has heated up as a batch of U.S. economic data is raising expectations that the U.S. will lay out more stimulus measures.
But even in the face of rising economic uncertainty, South Korea's high inflation is unnerving policymakers as consumer prices exceeded the upper ceiling of the BOK's 2-4 percent inflation target for the eighth straight month. In August, Korea's consumer prices jumped a jaw-dropping 5.3 percent from a year earlier, faster than 4.7 percent in July.
Korea's data on trade surplus and industrial output are also raising alarm bells about the health of the economy. The country's trade surplus shrunk to US$821 million in August on record imports and its industrial output grew at the slowest pace in 10 months in July.
Exports, which account for about 50 percent of South Korea's GDP, gained 0.9 percent on-quarter in the second quarter, down from an earlier projection of a 1.5 percent expansion.
Private spending, one of the main growth engines of the Korean economy, rose 0.9 percent, compared with a previous estimate of a 1 percent advance.
Facility investment gained 3.9 percent, smaller than a 4 percent growth forecast and construction investment gained 1.6 percent, a turnaround from an earlier estimate of a 0.4 percent fall.
The country's gross national income (GNI), a gauge of measuring the actual purchasing power of the population, rose 0.2 percent in the second quarter, a turnaround from a 0.1 percent decline in the preceding quarter.
The BOK said terms of trade worsened last quarter, raising trade losses, but continued economic growth and income gains from overseas helped the GNI return to positive terrain.
Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan said last week that the government could revise down its growth outlook for the year, which currently stands at 4.5 percent, due to economic uncertainty. The BOK's 2011 growth forecast stood at 4.3 percent.
The government and the BOK forecast that consumer inflation will grow 4 percent this year. The BOK has raised the borrowing costs by a combined 1.25 percentage points since July of last year in a bid to tame inflation.
The country's gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic performance, grew a revised 0.9 percent in the April-June period from three months earlier, slightly up from an earlier estimate of a 0.8 percent expansion, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
Although the second-quarter growth slowed from a 1.3 percent on-quarter gain, the Korean economy has now logged positive growth for 10 straight quarters.
Compared with a year earlier, Asia's fourth-largest economy grew 3.4 percent, the same pace as earlier forecast, the central bank added.
The data came two days before BOK policymakers hold a monthly rate-setting meeting amid dimmer global economic outlooks.
Many analysts predicted that the BOK is likely to freeze the key rate at 3.25 percent for the third straight month on Thursday even as the August inflation hit a 3-year high.
The BOK earlier said that the local economy is on a steady growth track, but its external economic conditions are unnerving local policymakers in gauging the timing of a rate increase.
The prospects for the global economy are getting bleaker as the first-ever U.S. credit downgrade and the eurozone sovereign risks are raising concerns that the global economy may slide back into a recession.
Debate over a third round of quantitative easing, known as QE3 in markets, has heated up as a batch of U.S. economic data is raising expectations that the U.S. will lay out more stimulus measures.
But even in the face of rising economic uncertainty, South Korea's high inflation is unnerving policymakers as consumer prices exceeded the upper ceiling of the BOK's 2-4 percent inflation target for the eighth straight month. In August, Korea's consumer prices jumped a jaw-dropping 5.3 percent from a year earlier, faster than 4.7 percent in July.
Korea's data on trade surplus and industrial output are also raising alarm bells about the health of the economy. The country's trade surplus shrunk to US$821 million in August on record imports and its industrial output grew at the slowest pace in 10 months in July.
Exports, which account for about 50 percent of South Korea's GDP, gained 0.9 percent on-quarter in the second quarter, down from an earlier projection of a 1.5 percent expansion.
Private spending, one of the main growth engines of the Korean economy, rose 0.9 percent, compared with a previous estimate of a 1 percent advance.
Facility investment gained 3.9 percent, smaller than a 4 percent growth forecast and construction investment gained 1.6 percent, a turnaround from an earlier estimate of a 0.4 percent fall.
The country's gross national income (GNI), a gauge of measuring the actual purchasing power of the population, rose 0.2 percent in the second quarter, a turnaround from a 0.1 percent decline in the preceding quarter.
The BOK said terms of trade worsened last quarter, raising trade losses, but continued economic growth and income gains from overseas helped the GNI return to positive terrain.
Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan said last week that the government could revise down its growth outlook for the year, which currently stands at 4.5 percent, due to economic uncertainty. The BOK's 2011 growth forecast stood at 4.3 percent.
The government and the BOK forecast that consumer inflation will grow 4 percent this year. The BOK has raised the borrowing costs by a combined 1.25 percentage points since July of last year in a bid to tame inflation.
