South Korea Q2 real household income grows at fastest in a year

[SEOUL] South Korea's average disposable household income grew a real 2.5 per cent in the second quarter from a year earlier, the fastest growth since the first quarter of last year, official data showed on Friday.

It was up from a real 2.4 per cent annual gain in the average household disposable income during the January-March period this year and the fastest since a 3.9 per cent rise in the first quarter of 2014, the Statistics Korea data showed.

It bodes well for the prospects of consumer spending in Asia's fourth-largest economy after private consumption posted a rare decline of 0.3 per cent in the second quarter from the previous period in real terms.

South Korea's central bank cut the policy interest rate by 25 basis points to record-low 1.50 per cent in June and the government introduced an 11.5 trillion won (S$13.6 billion) supplementary budget in July to spur economic growth.

REUTERS