Korea's economy grows 3.1% in 2017: BOK

South Korea's economic growth accelerated last year on the back of robust exports amid a global economic recovery, the Bank of Korea said Thursday.

The nation's economy expanded 3.1 percent in 2017 from a year ago, when it grew 2.8 percent, the BOK said.

It was the first time since 2014 that the economy grew above the 3 percent level.

For the final quarter of last year, however, the economy contracted 0.2 percent from the previous quarter, mainly due to fewer working days over the long Chuseok holiday week, according to the BOK. 

Last year, private consumption showed gradual recovery, construction investment continued its rapid expansion, and facilities investment turned positive and showed a high rate of growth, the BOK said.

"While the growth of services dropped, the growth of manufacturing accelerated and construction maintained a higher level of growth," the BOK said.

Last year, private consumption grew 1 percent, but construction investment fell by 3.8 percent, and facility investment declined 0.6 percent, the BOK said.

The decline in last year's fourth-quarter economic growth was mainly due to a base effect, as the economy posted a strong 1.5 percent growth rate a quarter earlier, BOK officials said.

Lim Jin, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute of Finance, said the fourth-quarter contraction did not necessarily mean that economic growth lost its steam.

  The BOK raised its key interest rate on Nov. 30 last year, marking the first rate hike in more than six years. This month, the central bank left the key rate unchanged at 1.5 percent, while suggesting that a further rate hike may be gradual.

Last week, the BOK raised its economic growth forecast for this year to 3 percent on expectations of continued domestic demand recovery and robust export growth. (Yonhap)