SEOUL – South Korea’s economy contracted in the final quarter of 2022 for the first time in 2-1/2 years, as a post-pandemic spending spree faded and global trade tumbled, central bank estimates showed on Thursday.
Gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 0.4 percent in the October-December period from the previous quarter, the Bank of Korea estimated, after a 0.3 percent gain in the July-September quarter. Economists in a Reuters poll had expected a 0.3- percent fall.
Leading the first GDP decline since the second quarter of 2020 were losses of 5.8 percent in exports and 0.4 percent in private consumption, whereas government spending posted a sharp 3.2-percent increase, the central bank…
Keep on reading: South Korean economy shrank in Q4 for first time in 2-1/2 years
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