South Korea grew at slower pace in Q1

South Korea’s economic growth continued to slow in the first quarter on sluggish exports and weak consumption, preliminary central bank data showed Tuesday.

From the previous quarter, the country’s gross domestic product grew 0.4 percent in the first three months of this year, reflecting a slowdown from the 0.7 percent on-quarter expansion in the final three months of 2015, said the Bank of Korea. 

From a year earlier, the economy grew 2.7 percent.

Broken down, domestic consumption edged up just 0.1 percent from three months earlier, while exports shrank 1.7 percent.

The Q1 reading came a week after the BOK slashed the country’s growth outlook this year to 2.8 percent from its previous estimate of 3 percent.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)