South Korea sees slower growth in third quarter

This article is more than 12 months old

Oct 25, 2019 06:00 am

SEOUL South Korea's economic growth slowed in the third quarter, its central bank said yesterday, warning that it could post its weakest annual expansion for a decade in the face of multiple trade spats.

Gross domestic product rose 0.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter in July-September, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a statement, down from 1 per cent in the last three months.

Year-on-year expansion remained steady at 2 per cent, but BOK governor Lee Ju Yeol signalled that the overall figure for this year could fall below that level - for the first time since 2009, in the depths of the global financial crisis.

The figures come as the world's 11th-largest economy faces fallout from the prolonged US-China trade war while it is also mired in a standoff of its own with Tokyo stemming from wartime history.

The central bank this month cut its key interest rate to a record low of 1.25 per cent.

Exports rose 4.1 per cent in the third quarter, the BOK said, but months of sharp falls at the beginning of the year hampered investment.