AFP, SEOULSouth Korea’s economy expanded at its slowest pace in a decade last year, hampered by prolonged trade tensions between the US and China and the sluggish semiconductor market, the Bank of Korea said yesterday. Slowing growth presents a challenge for South Korea, which enjoyed a decades-long boom known as the “Miracle on the Han” but where a highly educated youth now struggles to find well-paid jobs and frustration is mounting over inequality. The trade-dependent economy slowed “due to factors such as a decrease in semiconductor prices,” the central bank said in a statement. “While the growth of government consumption expanded, construction and facilities investment contracted as private consumption expenditure and export growth slowed,” it said. Growth in the fourth quarter was higher at 2.2 percent year-on-year, the bank said, boosted by government spending to offset weaker private consumption growth, which rose by 1.9 percent last year, its slowest in six years.

Source: Taipei Times January 22, 2020 03:22 UTC