South Korea’s economy grew by 1.2% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, the slowest growth rate since the second quarter of 2023.

Missed the advance numbers Growth was also weaker than the 1.5% expansion expected in the third quarter of 2024, compared with the 1.4% expansion expected by economists polled by Reuters.

From a month-on-month perspective, GDP growth was also lower than expected, with the economy growing by only 0.1%, while the Reuters survey forecast was 0.2%.

However, full-year GDP growth in 2024 is 2%, compared with 1.4% last year.

The Bank of Korea said According to the Korean version of Google Translate, private consumption growth will decline and construction investment will decline through 2024, but government consumption, facility investment and export growth will rise.

The Bank of Korea also said that the growth rate of the service industry and construction industry has declined, but the growth rate of manufacturing industry has accelerated compared with last year.

The GDP data comes after the Bank of Korea made two surprising moves in recent months, first cutting interest rates by 25 basis points in late November and then keeping rates unchanged at its January 16 meeting. The current policy rate of the Bank of Korea is 3%.

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