Go to contents

Korea ranks third in GDP growth with 1.5 percent in Q3

Posted December. 26, 2017 08:32,   

Updated December. 26, 2017 09:16

한국어

Korea ranked third among G20 countries in gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the third quarter of this year on the back of a hike in the export of semiconductors, which some say reveals the country’s high level of dependency on trade.

According to statistics by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Monday, Korea’s third-quarter GDP growth stood at 1.5 percent from the previous quarter to rank third among 18 members of the G20 countries, following China (1.7 percent) and India (1.6 percent). The average GDP growth rate of all 18 economies was 1 percent, lower than that of Korea by 0.5 percentage point.

Korea’s economy showed clearer improvements in the latter half of this year. Before the country’s economy greatly expanded in the third quarter by a margin of 0.9 percentage point, the highest among G20 nations, it had only grown 1.1 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively in the first and second quarters of the year, placing itself at the 13th place out of 18 countries from April to June period.

Korea’s performance in the third quarter surely stood out when compared to other G20 members. The second highest margin of growth in the same period was a meagre 0.2 percentage point recorded by Germany, and as many as 10 out of 18 economies noted the slowdown of their GDP growth from the previous quarter.



Gun-Huk Lee gun@donga.com