Slow Economic Growth for South Korea in Fourth Quarter

The Bank of Korea confirmed on Wednesday the economic growth of the sovereign state fell back during the fourth quarter of the previous year. Further sharp decline took place in the construction spending and personal consumption expenditure as the political upheaval intensifies.

The period got affected by the illegal involvement of President Park Geun-Hye regarding the corruption scandal. Park got impeached by the parliament of South Korea, pronouncing their judgment in a court proceeding. This political instability triggered fears for the probable “policy paralysis” and caused for the Consumer Confidence Index to slump for the third time up to this month.

The growth is approximately 0.4 percent based on Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR), quite from the 0.6 percent result in September and 0.8 percent surge for the month of June.
While the construction investment grew less with a seasonally adjusted 1.7 percent from October to December. On the other hand, the private consumption gained 0.2 percent only and remained lesser by 0.5 percent during the September quarter. Moreover, the annual GDP rate increased by 2.3 percent in the last quarter but comparatively lower from 2.6 percent hike in third quarter.