South Korea revised Q2 GDP down 3.2%, ticks up from advanced estimates

[SEOUL] South Korea's economy turned out to have shrunk by a seasonally adjusted 3.2 per cent in the April-June period from the previous quarter, revised central bank data showed on Tuesday, just a notch above a 3.3 per cent contraction estimated earlier.

That was the sharpest contraction since the final quarter of 2008 when the economy decreased by 3.3 per cent.

The economy, Asia's fourth-largest, slipped into technical recession - two straight quarters of decline - in the June quarter, joining its peers Japan, Thailand and Singapore.

A 16.1 per cent plunge in exports of goods and services was the biggest drag on the trade-reliant economy, though it was revised up from a July estimation of a 16.6 per cent decline, still marking the worst contraction since the final quarter of 1963.

Private consumption, which generates nearly half of the nation's gross domestic product, grew a revised 1.5 per cent in sequential terms, slightly better than a 1.4 per cent rise estimated earlier.

In year-on-year terms, South Korea's GDP fell a revised 2.7 per cent during the second quarter, compared to a 2.9 per cent decline estimated earlier.

REUTERS