South Korea’s economy continued to sputter last quarter after President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived declaration of martial law battered consumer confidence just as businesses and policymakers were already fretting about the possibility of U.S. President Donald Trump imposing trade tariffs.
Gross domestic product grew 0.1% in the three months through December from the previous quarter, the Bank of Korea said Thursday. That figure was weaker than economists’ forecast of a 0.2% expansion. For 2024 as a whole, the economy expanded 2%, a slower than expected pace compared with an estimate of 2.1%.
The anemic quarterly growth figure points to an economy already in a weakened state amid heightened political instability, with the prospect of tariffs clouding the outlook for South Korea’s exports, a key engine of growth.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.