According to Yonhap News,

Korea's economic growth sharply slowed in 2022 as exports weakened amid growing recession woes stemming from aggressive monetary tightening at home and abroad, central bank data showed Tuesday.

Korea's gross domestic product -- a major gauge of growth -- expanded 2.6 percent in 2022, compared with a 4.1 percent advance tallied in the previous year, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The 2022 growth marked the slowest pace since 2020, when the economy contracted 0.7 percent amid the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

For the fourth quarter of last year, the economy shrank 0.4 percent from three months earlier, swinging from the previous quarter's 0.3 percent growth.

Those figures, which reflected latest economic data related to exports, investment and others, were unchanged from the BOK's growth estimates provided in January.

The slower growth is blamed on weak export growth amid slumping sales of semiconductors and other goods. Overseas shipments expanded 3.2 percent in 2022, compared with a 10.8 percent rise in 2021, the data showed.

Private consumption expanded 4.3 percent last year, higher than a 3.7 percent rise in 2021, apparently thanks to eased coronavirus curbs.

Facility investment, however, shrank 0.5 percent last year compared with a 9 percent advance tallied a year earlier. Investment in construction contracted 3.5 percent, worse than a 1.6 percent decline a year earlier.

Government spending increased 4.1 percent last year, lower than the previous year's 5.6 percent advance.

kokobj@yna.co.kr

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Source: Yonhap News (Mar. 7, 2023)