Korea ranks 32nd of 38 OECD members in Q3 growth

SEJONG -- South Korea was found to have lagged far behind major countries in the latest economic growth, data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development showed Thursday.

According to the French-based organization, Korea’s gross domestic product grew 0.3 percent -- as a provisional figure -- in the third quarter of 2021, compared to the previous quarter.

This placed Asia’s fourth largest-economy at No. 32 of the total 38 OECD members in the quarterly GDP growth, which marked another sagging performance following placing 33rd in the second quarter.

Korea fell short of the OECD average of 1.1 percent during the period of July-September, the Group of 20 at 1.7 percent, the European Union at 2.1 percent and the eurozone economies at 2.2 percent.

In the middle of protracted COVID-19 protocols, the economies of six members expanded 3 percent or more -- Colombia (No. 1) with 5.7 percent, Chile with 4.9 percent, Costa Rica with 3.9 percent, Austria with 3.8 percent, Norway with 3.8 percent and France with 3 percent.

Countries that posted a growth in the 2 percent range included Portugal (No. 7 with 2.9 percent), Greece, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden.

Members with growth of 1-2 percent included Germany (16th with 1.7 percent), Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Canada, Slovenia, the UK and Denmark.

Emerging economies, including Hungary, Estonia, Latvia and the Slovak Republic, also ranked above Korea. The US with a 0.6 percent growth also outstripped Korea.

Korea was also outpaced by some non-OECD members: A 12.7 percent growth was reported in India, 5.8 percent in Saudi Arabia, 4.1 percent in Argentina and 0.6 percent in Bulgaria.

In the 2020 economic growth, Korea ranked relatively high as its figure surpassed the world’s average by minus 0.9 percent vs. minus 3.4 Major economies in Europe, America and Asia were estimated to have taken a harder hit than Korea from COVID-19 in 2020, according to research analysts.

But the outlook by global researchers on the nation’s 2021 growth lags behind their estimates of the world and major economies.

The OECD, in its December outlook, forecasted that Korea’s economy would expand 4 percent in 2021.

In contrast, the organization anticipated a 5.6 percent on-year growth for the world, 5.2 percent for eurozone countries and 5.9 percent for Group of 20 members.

Its growth estimates for the US, China and the UK reached 5.6 percent, 8.1 percent and 6.9 percent, in turn. France and Italy were projected to see growth of 6.8 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)