SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s economy barely grew in the fourth quarter of 2024, missing market expectations, amid the country’s worst political crisis in decades, advanced central bank estimates showed on Thursday.
Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 0.1% from a quarter earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis, compared with increases of 0.1% in the third quarter and 0.2% forecast in a Reuters survey.
In the October-December quarter, GDP grew 1.2% on an annual basis, weaker than gains of 1.5% the quarter before and 1.4% expected by economists, and marked the slowest pace since the second quarter of 2023.
In 2024, Asia’s fourth-largest economy grew 2.0%, after rising 1.4% in 2023, according to the Bank of Korea.
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Sandra Maler)
