[Photo by Namkung Jun-woong]
South Korea's economy was in the doldrums in the first quarter of this year, growing 0.5 percent from the previous quarter, sparking concern about a delayed economic recovery, preliminary central bank data showed Thursday.
The figure was slightly higher than the Bank of Korea's earlier estimate of 0.4 percent but South Korea's on-quarter GDP growth stayed near zero for two consecutive quarters after an expansion of 1.2 percent in the third quarter of 2015.
GDP grew 2.8 percent on-year in the January-March period, largely on par with the central bank's projection, but other indicators showed Asia's fourth-largest economy has yet to recover its growth momentum.
Output in the construction industry expanded 4.8 percent on-quarter. The agriculture, forestry and fishing sector grew 6.5 percent but manufacturing retreated 0.2 percent on-quarter due to poor performances in auto, machinery and equipment.
Consumer spending contracted 0.2 percent from the previous quarter.
Industrial output declined for two months in a row due to a slump mainly in the production of cars and electronics parts which are the key industries in exports. Data from Statistics Korea, released on Tuesday, showed the country's industrial output fell 2.8 percent on-year in April.
Aju News Park Sae-jin = swatchsjp@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
