1분기 경제성장률 전기비 0.3%↓…금융위기 이후`최저`<br /><br />Falling exports and investment seem to have taken their toll on the Korean economy.<br />GDP in the first quarter actually contracted... the worst figure seen in more than ten years.<br />Kim Hyesung has the details. <br /> South Korea's economy shrank in the first quarter, declining zero-point-three percent on-quarter.<br />This makes it the worst contraction since the global financial crisis, when the local economy sank three-point-three percent in the fourth quarter of 2008. <br />On-year, first quarter real GDP expanded one-point-eight percent. <br />"Private consumption and government consumption increased. But exports, capital investment and construction investment all fell." <br />Exports, which account for around half the country's GDP, tumbled two-point-six percent on-quarter, mainly on decreases in exports of electrical and electronic equipment like LCDs.<br />Private consumption edged up zero-point-one percent.<br />Government consumption rose zero-point-three percent, with increased health care benefits, but much lower than the three percent growth seen in the fourth quarter.<br /> Capital investment plummeted nearly 11 percent to a 21-year-low due to decreases in machinery equipment like chips.<br />Construction investment edged down zero-point-one percent. <br />Led by finance minister Hong Nam-ki, economy-related ministers held an emergency meeting Thursday and said the government will provide support measures including the injection of an extra budget and improving the corporate investment environment. <br /> The Bank of Korea had already cut its growth outlook for the year by zero-point-one percentage points to 2-point-five percent last week. <br />To reach that target, the BOK said the local economy will have to grow by around 1-point-two percent in the second quarter and by around zero-point-eight to zero-point-nine percent in the remaining two quarters.<br /> Kim Hyesung, Arirang News. <br />
