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Korea's GDP grew at its fastest pace in 18 months in the second quarter, boosting expectations of a quickened economic recovery. The growth was mainly thanks to better performance in manufacturing and finance.
The country's GDP expanded by 1.7 percent on-quarter from April to June, the Bank of Korea said on Wednesday. It was the strongest quarterly growth since the fourth quarter of 2005 when GDP rose 1.7 percent.
Compared to the same period last year, GDP grew by 4.9 percent. That's better than the 4.7 percent the BOK had forecast.
"GDP growth was helped by strong manufacturing including semiconductors, ships and automobiles. The finance and insurance industry which has grown 8.1 percent year-on-year also helped," said Lee Kwang-joon, the central bank's director.
However, private consumption growth slowed to 0.8 percent in the second quarter from 1.5 percent in the first.
Song Jae-eun with the Korean Institute of Finance said, "Since the stock market rally and strong exports have not led to an increase in income or jobs, people may not feel the economy is getting better."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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