South Korea Q4 GDP rise 0.4% q-o-q, slightly higher than expected

[SEOUL] South Korea's gross domestic product rose 0.4 per cent in the final quarter of 2016 from previous three months, when it gained 0.6 per cent, central bank estimates showed on Wednesday.

The 0.4 per cent growth in seasonally adjusted terms beat the median forecast of 0.3 per cent seen in a Reuters survey of 17 economists.

The central bank data showed private consumption during the October-December period grew by a seasonally adjusted 0.2 per cent, while construction investment slipped 1.7 per cent on-quarter.

On an annual basis, the economy grew 2.3 per cent in the December quarter, compared with a forecast of 2.2 per cent gain.

For the whole of 2016, South Korea's economy expanded 2.7 per cent, edging up from a 2.6 per cent gain in 2015.

REUERS