S. Korea’s per capita income fell in 2015

South Korea’s per capita income fell from a year earlier in 2015, marking the first on-year drop in six years, the central bank said on Friday.

Last year, the country’s per capita gross national income came to $27,340, down 2.6 percent from $28,071 in the previous year, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.

The fall was mostly caused by a decline in the Korean won, the bank said. The local currency had suffered a 7.4 percent drop in value against the dollar in 2015.

The BOK also said the South Korean economy continued to grow last year, although at a slower pace.

Real gross domestic product rose 2.6 percent on-year last year, compared with a 3.3 percent expansion in the previous year.

The latest reading is mainly in line with the bank’s earlier estimates.

However, the BOK cut its growth forecast for this year to 3 percent from 3.2 percent.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)