South Korea's economy is estimated to have grown 1-point-1 percent in the second quarter of this year.<br />This is a dramatic turnaround from the previous quarter when GDP shrank by the largest amount since the 2008 financial crisis.<br />For more, our Kim Da-mi is on the line with us at the Bank of Korea.<br />Dami, tell us more.<br /><br />Hi Mark,<br />South Korea's GDP grew by an estimated 1-point-1 percent in the April-to-June period.<br />According to Bank of Korea, the figure marks the highest on-quarter growth since the third quarter of 2017...when the economy grew 1-point-5 percent.<br />The country's economy increased at an annualized rate of 2-point-1 percent in the second quarter, also marking the highest growth since the final quarter of 2018.<br /><br />But the latest 1-point-1 percent figure is still below of the central bank's estimated 1-point-2 percent goal, right?<br /><br />Right, and it's not all good news because the previous quarter's figure was so low,...and also because the growth was partly caused by the government's increased consumption on health care benefits.<br />Government consumption increased by 2-point-5 percent, which is a huge jump from the zero-point-4 percent increase in the previous quarter.<br />Exports in the second quarter increased 2-point-3 percent from three months earlier... thanks to increased exports in motor vehicles and semiconductors.<br />Imports also went up by 3 percent, owing to increased imports of machinery.<br />Facilities investment grew by 2-point-4 percent, led by the growth of investment in transportation equipment.<br />But all these numbers are not as good as they seem.<br />Exports only rose by 1-point-5 percent compared to the same period last year.<br />And facility investment, in fact, dropped by almost 8 percent compared to the same period last year.<br />Real gross domestic income, GDI, decreased by point-6 percent compared to the previous quarter because of the worsened trade terms.<br />With exports on a steady decline since December,...analysts note that it will be a challenge to reach the central bank's economic growth forecast of 2-point-2 percent.<br />And under Japan's export restrictions,...the country's economy in the second half of the year may get worse.<br />The Bank of Korea said it's too early to comment on the country's economic growth, but it will carefully monitor the U.S.-China trade war, as well as Japan's latest export curbs.<br />That's all from me, Mark.<br />
