Asia’s fourth-largest economy grew slightly more than previously thought in each of the past two years, South Korean authorities said yesterday.
The central Bank of Korea raised its figure for the 2016 economic growth rate by 0.1 percentage points to 2.8%, saying the manufacturing sector performed better than earlier estimated.
It also raised the 2015 figure from 2.6% to 2.8%, so that last year’s rise in gross domestic product (GDP) was unchanged from the previous year.
Decades of rapid growth saw the South rise from the ashes of the Korean War to become a member of the OECD group of leading economies, but expansion has slowed more recently.
Economic frustrations were among the factors underlying the giant anti-corruption protests that saw president Park Geun-hye impeached.
Per capita gross national income (GNI) came to $27,561 in 2016, up 1.4% from the previous year, the Bank of Korea said.
The manufacturing sector expanded 2.3% last year, it said, rather than the 1.7% figure it gave in January and the 1.8% in 2015.
Exports grew 2.1% in 2016, a reverse from a 0.1% contraction the previous year, while imports increased 4.5%, up from 2.1%.
South Korea issues its first figure for the previous year’s growth in January.
It then revises it in March, and the final statistic is given in the same month the following year.



Related Story