GDP figure for third quarter, released by Bank of Korea (BOK) showed that economy did much better in the third quarter than originally anticipated. Korean economy faced heavy headwinds from slowdown in exports to China and massive outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

Economic activities were heavily disrupted over MERS outbreak, leading to closure of schools and colleges out of schedule, while people avoided mass gathering in places, which includes visiting in shopping Mall. Number of tourists arriving in the country also dropped sharply. First case was reported back in May, since then, it has claimed 36 lives.

Other hand it was China. Massive slowdown hampered Korean exports to China, which has fallen to lowest in years. Korean automobiles have been especially hit.

It was widely expected that Korean economy would slow down faster due to the above reasons.

Instead, Economy has performed much better than expected. Economy grew 1.3% in third quarter, best in almost five years, up 2.7% on yearly basis, best in a year.

Focus will be on next series of data for hints, if the economy is on its way to recovery.

Korean Won is currently trading at 1164 per Dollar, down -0.2% today so far.