The South Korean economy grew at a slower pace than the economies of the Group of 20 countries on average in 2014 for the fourth year in a row, data showed Sunday.
The real gross domestic product of the G-20 nations grew 3.4 percent in 2014, a notch higher than South Korea’s 3.3 percent, according to the data compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
South Korea’s real GDP growth rate dropped to 3.7 percent to sink below the G-20 figure of 4.1 percent in 2011, and the country has failed to outperform its G-20 peers since then. The country’s real GDP marked 2.4 percent growth in 2012 and 3 percent in 2013, while G-20 countries’ logged 3 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.
Between 1999 and 2011, Asia’s fourth-largest economy only fell below the average twice: in 2003 and 2005.
Market watchers are worried that the country’s sluggish pace will continue in 2015 due to the downbeat economic index.
The International Monetary Fund forecast 3.7 percent growth for South Korea in 2015, while the South Korean government and the Bank of Korea expected the real GDP to expand 3.8 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.
South Korea’s exports shrank 0.7 percent on-year in January and 3.4 percent in February, while industrial output and domestic consumption declined 1.7 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively, from a month earlier.
Last week the BOK lowered the key rate by 0.25 percentage point to a record low of 1.75 percent and signaled that it would revise down the growth forecast later this year. (Yonhap)
