SEOUL – South Korea recorded its worst growth in more than two decades in 2020, the central bank said today, but it is expected to be among the best-performing economies in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The country’s gross domestic product contracted 1% last year from a year earlier, the Bank of Korea said, citing weak private spending and exports.
This marks its worst annual growth since 1998, when the South Korean economy shrank 5.1% in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis.
Still, South Korea is expected to be among the countries in the OECD group of developed economies least affected by the pandemic last year.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, the country’s economy – the world’s 12th-largest – grew 1.1% from the previous quarter, data showed, marking a second consecutive quarter of growth amid the pandemic.
The central bank said exports expanded 5.2% in the fourth quarter from three months earlier, offsetting a slump in private consumption due to toughened social distancing rules in recent weeks.
South Korea has shown signs of recovery from the virus downturn and the central bank in November forecast the economy to grow 3% this year.
The country has largely contained its coronavirus outbreak – while the pandemic has killed more than two million people worldwide – with widespread testing and contact tracing.
But authorities tightened social distancing rules late last year after case numbers began to rise. – AFP, January 26, 2021
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