South Korea’s economic growth picked up in 2013 on strong exports.
The Bank of Korea said that the gross domestic product (GDP) grew 2.8 per cent year-on-year. Asia’s fourth-largest economy grew 2 per cent in 2012.
The bank said it expects growth of 3.8 per cent this year. “Exports sustained their steady growth,” it said in a statement.
South Korea’s most important exports are electronics, cars and ships.
Quarterly growth fell at the end of 2013, with the final quarter up just 0.9 per cent from July-September, a slowdown compared with the third quarter’s 1.1-per-cent growth from the previous period.
State spending fell due to a drop in tax receipts, a statistician from the bank told reporters in Seoul.
GDP grew 3.9 per cent year-on-year in the October-December quarter, the fastest rate in almost three years.