SoKor suffers from recession on exports’ historic decline

The second quarter had seen South Korea slipping into recession. This came to be the country’s sharpest economic downturn in more than two decades as the novel coronavirus crisis weighed on exports and social distancing measures halted factory activities.

Asia’s fourth-biggest economy declined a seasonally adjusted 3.3% last quarter from three months earlier, the Bank of Korea said on Thursday. The figure came sharper than the 2.3% decline predicted in a Reuters survey, surpassing records monitored since the first quarter of 1998.

South Korea’s gross domestic product recorded a 2.9% drop in year-on-year terms, the largest drop since the fourth quarter of 1998 and sharper than the 2.3% decline expected in the same survey.

Exports recorded a 16.6% on-quarter decline, hitting its lowest level since 1963. This dragged the country’s growth since exports cover almost 40% of the economy.