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Korea's gross national income plunged to the lowest point since the financial crisis in the late 1990s during the third quarter this year.
According to an estimate by the Bank of Korea on Tuesday, Korea's real GNI during the third quarter fell 3.7 percent against the previous quarter, the lowest since it fell 9.6 percent in the first quarter of 1998.
Real GNI is an indicator of purchasing power at home and abroad. The reason is that the country suffered a record-high trade loss of W33.4 trillion (US$1=W1,467) due to a sharp rise in international prices of raw materials such as crude oil and iron ore despite record exports.
During the third quarter, GDP increased a mere 0.5 percent. With major economic indicators such as production, investment and consumption in the doldrums, GDP is expected to record zero or minus growth in the fourth quarter.
Kwon Soon-woo, an economist at the Samsung Economic Research Institute, said all possible measures should be taken to boost the economy through interest and financial policies and liquidate insolvent companies quickly to prevent the financial market from going into shock.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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