The growth rate of our country’s economy for the third quarter has been tentatively confirmed at 0.1%, the same as the preliminary estimate. Compared to the preliminary figures, exports, imports, and intellectual property products investments have been revised upward, whereas construction and facility investments have been revised downward.
On the 5th, the Bank of Korea announced that the real GDP growth rate for the third quarter, compared to the previous quarter (provisional), was recorded at 0.1%.
Analyzing the growth rate by sector for the third quarter reveals that exports decreased by 0.2%, mainly in automobiles and chemical products. Construction investment also fell by 3.6% centered on building construction. Conversely, imports increased by 1.6% primarily in machinery and equipment. Private consumption grew by 0.5% with increases in both goods such as electricity, gas, and passenger vehicles, and services in medical and transportation sectors.
Equipment investment saw a 6.5% increase, led by machinery for semiconductor manufacturing and transportation equipment like aircraft. Government consumption rose by 0.6%, influenced by social security benefits in kind, such as health insurance benefits.
Compared with the preliminary figures, the growth rates for construction investment (-0.8% points) and facility investment (-0.4% points) have been revised downward, but exports (+0.2% points), imports (+0.1% points), and intellectual property products investments (+0.1% points) have been revised upward.
The contribution to the growth rate from net exports (exports minus imports) was -0.8 percentage points, cutting nearly 1 percentage point from the growth rate. In contrast, domestic demand raised the growth rate by 0.8 percentage points.
The nominal Gross National Income (GNI) for the third quarter decreased by 0.5% compared to the previous quarter. However, the nominal net factor income from abroad increased from 7.3 trillion won to 9 trillion won, surpassing the nominal GDP growth rate of -0.8%.
Real GNI increased by 1.4%. Thanks to the improvement in terms of trade and reduced real trade loss from 16.6 trillion won to 14.2 trillion won, the real GNI growth rate exceeded the real GDP growth rate of 0.1%.
The Bank of Korea views that a fourth-quarter growth rate of 0.5% is necessary to achieve the initially anticipated annual growth rate of 2.2%. In response to concerns that the recent martial law situation could negatively impact the growth rate, Kang Chang-gu, head of BOK’s National Accounts Division, acknowledged the heightened economic uncertainty but assessed that the relatively quick resolution of the martial law situation would have a limited impact on the market.
(Image provided by the Bank of Korea)