The Bank of Korea announced on the 26th that the growth rate of real gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of last year was 1.1%. Last year’s annual growth rate was -1.0%.
Last year’s quarterly growth rate reversed consecutively in the first quarter (-1.3%) and second quarter (-3.2%) due to the Corona 19 shock, and rebounded to 2.1% and 1.1% in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.
Last year’s annual growth rate of (-)1.0% was negative growth in 22 years since 1998 (-5.1%). This is similar to the negative growth rate of (-)1.6% in 1980.
As in the third quarter of last year, the growth rate in the fourth quarter of last year was driven by an increase in exports despite the contraction of private consumption. Private consumption decreased by (-)1.7%, while exports increased by 5.2%. Exports increased mainly in semiconductors and chemicals. Imports also increased by 2.1%, mainly for machinery and equipment.
The contribution of net exports to the economic growth rate was 1.3 percentage points (p), while private consumption was -0.8 percentage points. The growth rate by industry was △ manufacturing industry 2.8% △ agriculture, forestry and fishing industry 4.9% △ service industry 0.4% △ construction industry 2.6% △ electricity gas and water supply industry 5.9%.
Real gross domestic income (GDI) was only 0.7%, lower than the real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate (1.1%) due to the worsening terms of trade.
In the annual growth rate, government consumption and facility investment turned to increase, but private consumption and exports turned to decrease to (-)5.0% and (-)2.5%, respectively. By economic activity, the decline in the construction industry decreased to (-)0.1%, but the manufacturing and service industries turned to decreases to (-)1.0% and (-)1.2%, respectively. Annual real GDI declined 0.3% year-on-year.
Kim Joo Ogija