South Korea's economic growth fell to a nearly three-year low in the second quarter as exports and capital expenditures shrank due to a slowdown in China and debt-saddled Europe, reinforcing views that the central bank will further reduce borrowing costs to prop up the economy, AP reported. The Bank of Korea said Thursday in its preliminary estimate that South Korea's economy expanded 2.4 percent over a year earlier in the three months ended June 30, the slowest growth since the third quarter of 2009. The second-quarter gross domestic product was just 0.4 percent higher from the previous three months, when the economy expanded 0.9 percent. Asia's fourth-largest economy was widely expected to report weak growth for the April-June period. The central bank unexpectedly cut its key policy rate by a quarter of a percentage point earlier this month, its first rate cut in more than three years. The slowdown in the second quarter gave more weight to the view that the central bank will lower the benchmark interest rate again before the December presidential election. The Bank of Korea forecast South Korea's economy to grow just 3 percent this year, down from its earlier forecast of 3.5 percent. An increase in government spending during the second half of this year is expected to contribute 0.2 percentage points to GDP, preventing growth from falling below 3 percent.
