South Korea’s economy grew at its slowest pace for three quarters in the July-to-September period because of weak consumer spending and a fall in corporate investment amid the global economic gloom, the central bank said yesterday.
GDP grew 0.7 percent in the third quarter, slowing down from 0.9 percent in the second quarter.
Year-on-year, Asia’s fourth-largest economy grew 3.4 percent in the July-to-September period from the same period last year, the same pace as in the second quarter.
Analysts expect the export-dominated economy to remain subdued for the rest of the year because of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis and the weak US economy.
The central bank is expected to leave the key interest rate unchanged at 3.25 percent for a considerable period.
The Bank of Korea said exports gained 2 percent quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter after expanding 1.2 percent three months earlier.
Private spending rose by 0.6 percent, slowing down from a 0.9 percent increase in the previous quarter.
Facility investment fell 0.4 percent after growing 3.9 percent in the second quarter. Construction investment grew 2.2 percent after rising 1.6 percent in the April-to-June period.
“Capital spending fell in the third quarter as companies delayed their investment amid high economic uncertainty,” senior central bank official Kim Young-bae told a press conference.
“Consumer spending remained weak as high inflation and sharp falls in stock prices, driven by Europe’s debt crisis, dented domestic demand,” Yonhap news agency quoted him as saying.
Kim said the economy would likely grow below the bank’s previous forecast of 4.3 percent this year, but dismissed talk of a downturn.
“In the fourth quarter, the growth number is forecast to be better than the third quarter. It can be said that the local economy hit the bottom in the third quarter,” Kim said.
Moody’s Analytics agreed, saying growth is slightly below trend, but the economy remains resilient and on track for a soft landing.
In a commentary it said that export figures were particularly strong, suggesting little impact from the easing global economy in the third quarter.
“There isn’t too much cause for concern and our current forecast for 3.6 percent GDP growth in 2011 and 3.4 percent in 2012 remain intact,” Moody’s Analytics said.
HSBC Holdings PLC is deepening its commitment to Taiwan as the economy emerges as one of the bank’s fastest-growing markets globally, driven by an artificial intelligence (AI) investment boom, expanding cross-border trade, and rising wealth creation. “The advantage that Taiwan has is a growth story linked to the semiconductor and broader AI industries, strong underlying corporate performance, and wealth creation,” said Surendra Rosha, HSBC’s co-chief executive for Asia and the Middle East, in an exclusive interview with the Taipei Times on June 2, during this year’s HSBC Taiwan Conference. That combination has helped HSBC cement its position as the most profitable international
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday fell sharply against the US dollar to close at its lowest level since May 22 amid a massive outflow of funds from the country because of investors panicking over global equity markets. The NT dollar ended at NT$31.580 against the US dollar, slightly lower than its close of NT$31.568 on May 22, after moving between NT$31.5 and NT$31.648 on combined turnover of US$3.062 billion on the Taipei Foreign Exchange and the Cosmos Foreign Exchange. The NT dollar received a significant hit in the morning session, slumping as much as NT$0.173 at a time when other Asian currencies
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is now ranked ninth among the world’s 100 most valuable companies after its market capitalization more than doubled over the past year, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Taiwan said in a report last month. TSMC’s market capitalization surged 101 percent year-on-year to US$1.427 trillion as of March 31, the accounting and consulting firm’s 2026 Global Top 100 Companies by Market Capitalization report said. The gain catapulted the world’s largest contract chipmaker from 12th place to ninth in the rankings, and it was the fastest-growing among the global top 10, it said. TSMC was the only Taiwanese company among the top
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported record revenue of NT$416.975 billion (US$13.17 billion) for last month, putting the world’s largest contract chipmaker on track to set a record for quarterly revenue. Last month’s figure surpassed March’s record NT$415.19 billion and represented increases of 1.5 percent from April and 30.1 percent from a year earlier. For the first five months of the year, TSMC generated NT$1.96 trillion in revenue, up 30 percent year-on-year, it said in a statement. TSMC has forecast second-quarter revenue of between US$39 billion and US$40.2 billion, representing sequential growth of about 10 percent and year-on-year growth of about
RSS