Friday, September 6th, 2013
SEOUL, KOREA- The growth pace of the gross national income (GNI) has hit a record-high level in four years. According to a report "2Q 2013 National Income (Preliminary)" published by the Bank of Korea on September 5, the second-quarter GNI has grown 2.9 percent from the previous quarter, the highest level since the second quarter of 2009 when the comparable figure was 4.8 percent.
This is largely due to an improvement in terms of trade. Meanwhile, the nominal GNI has risen 1.0 percent to 330.1 trillion won. The gross domestic products for the same quarter were reported to have grown 1.1 percent from the previous quarter.
By economic activity, manufacturing rose 0.9 percent owing to an increase in electric and electronic devices, general-purpose machinery, and precision machinery. Construction saw a rise of 1.4 percent due to a spike in activities in residential building construction. As for services, the sector grew 0.9 percent from the previous quarter led by a rise in retail and wholesale, food and hospitality, financial services, and health care and social welfare.
By spending item, private-sector consumption rose 0.7 percent buoyed by expenditure on both durable and non-durable goods. Construction investment also rose 3.4 percent while exports showed an upward trend of 1.8 percent thanks to an increase in patent royalties from mobile phones and semiconductors. Imports rose 1.1 percent as the import volume for computer chips and oil rose.