The South Korean economy grew 0.1 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter for its slowest growth rate in three years as capital investment and manufacturing weakened, dpa quoted the central bank as saying Thursday. The figure represented a decrease from the 0.2-per-cent growth the Bank of Korea had predicted in October and was lower than the 0.3-percent expansion of the second quarter and 0.9 per cent in the first quarter. It was the slowest gain since 2009's first quarter when the export-reliant economy was struggling during the global financial crisis. On a year-on-year basis, gross domestic product (GDP) for Asia's fourth-largest economy grew 1.5 per cent, down from growth rates of 2.3 per cent in the second quarter and 2.8 per cent in the first. The central bank said the economy was unlikely to shrink in the fourth quarter, given the rise in exports, mainly of mobile devices and petrochemicals. Exports grew 2.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter, better than the predicted 2.5-per-cent rate. The Bank of Korea said, however, that South Korea was unlikely to meet the bank's full-year GDP growth estimate of 2.4 per cent. Capital investment fell 1.7 per cent from the second quarter as investments in manufacturing facilities dropped 4.8 per cent, worse than the predicted 4.3-per-cent contraction. Manufacturing decreased 0.4 per cent while consumer spending rose 0.7 per cent.
