Korea's GDP grew 0.6 percent in second quarter

Containers for export and import are stacked at a port in Busan on Tuesday. [NEWS1]

Korea's economy grew for a second consecutive quarter on positive net exports, central bank data showed Tuesday.

The country's real GDP — a key measure of economic growth — increased 0.6 percent on quarter in the April-June period, accelerating from a 0.3 percent expansion in the first quarter, according to an advance estimate from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

Korea's economy has been growing again after contracting by 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.

The second quarter's on-year growth was 0.9 percent.

Positive net exports increased the GDP, an inflation-adjusted value of private consumption, government spending, investment and net exports, by 1.3 percentage points in the second quarter.

The country's exports fell 1.8 percent in the Januray-March period due to sluggish demand for petroleum products and transportation services. But exports of semiconductors and motor vehicles gained ground.

Imports tumbled 4.2 percent for the quarter, dragged down by a decrease in imports of crude oil and natural gas.

Private spending fell 0.1 percent as expenditures on services declined, while expenditures on goods remained flat at the previous quarter's level.

Government consumption tumbled 1.9 percent due to a decline in spending on social security benefits.

Investment in construction and facilities also dropped 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

By industry, agriculture, forestry and fishing jumped 5.5 percent, manufacturing grew 2.8 percent and services went up 0.2 percent.

But the electricity, gas and water supply sector fell 6 percent, and the construction industry declined 3.4 percent.

For the first half of 2023, the Korean economy expanded 0.9 percent from a year earlier, higher than May's 0.8 percent growth estimate, the BOK said.

"To achieve the 1.4 percent growth this year that was forecast, the economy has to grow about 0.7 percent each in the third and fourth quarters to reach 1.7 percent growth in the second half," Shin Seung-chul, director general of the economic statistics division at the central bank, said in a briefing.

Last year, the country's economy grew 2.6 percent, slowing from a 4.3 percent advance the previous year amid aggressive monetary tightening at home and abroad.

The 2022 growth marked the slowest pace since 2020 when the economy contracted 0.7 percent amid the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

BY SOHN DONG-JOO, YONHAP [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]