South Korea’s real gross domestic product rose 1.0% in the third quarter, beating the Bank of Korea’s forecast as exports and facility investment strengthened despite a decline in private consumption.
The central bank’s advance estimate, released Oct. 27, put growth for July-September at 1.0% from the previous quarter, compared with 0.6% in April-June. The Bank of Korea had projected 0.3% growth for the quarter in its August outlook, which forecast 3.3% growth for 2026. The result topped the 0.7% median from a Reuters poll, covered in EconoTimes’ pre-release preview.
Exports advanced 2.3% quarter on quarter and facility investment gained 4.1%. Imports rose 2.4%, while private consumption edged down 0.2%. Real GDP was 3.4% higher than a year earlier. The Bank of Korea’s August outlook identified the semiconductor boom and its spillover effects as supports for growth.
Lee Dong-won, director general of the Bank of Korea’s economic statistics department, estimated that semiconductors accounted for about half of the expansion. Reuters identified chips, machinery and electrical equipment as key contributors to exports and said purchases of machinery, including chip-production gear, supported facility investment.
Reuters linked weaker financial-services spending to the stock-market slump and lower car purchases to strikes at major automakers. The Korea Herald reported Lee’s account that corporate income had risen sharply, but its effects take time to reach households.
Real gross domestic income rose 3.4% from the previous quarter and 18.8% from a year earlier, the Bank of Korea reported. Yonhap said the annual increase was the strongest since the fourth quarter of 1977, when it reached 19.0%. The central bank is due to release updated growth projections next month, Yonhap reported.
