Roundup: S. Korea's GDP rebounds in Q1 on brisk export, facility investment

SEOUL, June 1 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's gross domestic product (GDP) rebounded in the first quarter on brisk export and facility investment, central bank data showed Friday.

Seasonally-adjusted real GDP amounted to 395.6 trillion won (367.7 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-March quarter, up 1.0 percent from the previous quarter, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It was down 0.1 percentage point from the preliminary figure, but it marked a rebound from a 0.2-percent decline in the fourth quarter of last year.

The first-quarter growth was in line with the BOK's growth forecast of 3 percent for this year. If the real GDP grows 0.9 percent in the second quarter, it would meet the bank's growth outlook, according to the BOK's analysis.

Export and facility investment led the economic recovery. Exports, which account for about half of the South Korean economy, grew 4.4 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier on solid demand for semiconductor and machinery.

Imports rose 4.9 percent in the quarter on rising demand for natural gas.

Facility investment climbed 3.4 percent, marking the highest quarterly increase since the second quarter of last year.

Investment in the construction industry rose 1.8 percent in the first quarter, turning around from a 2.3 percent fall in the previous quarter.

Government spending increased 2.2 percent, posting the highest expansion in six years. It was attributed to growing subsidy for public health insurance.

Private consumption, the other growth engine of the economy along with export, gained 0.7 percent in the quarter, marking the fastest rise since the first quarter of last year.

Consumers spent more on imported cars, home appliances and semi-durables such as luxury bags.

By industry, production among manufacturers rose 1.6 percent, the highest since the third quarter of last year. The figure among builders grew 2.1 percent, the highest in a year.

Services industry production picked up 1.1 percent in the quarter, the highest since the second quarter of 2013.

The production in the food and lodging service industries lost 2.8 percent, but the figure for real estate developers logged the highest increase since the second quarter of 2002.

Recent economic indicators showed a rosy picture on the economy, easing worry about the faltering recovery trend.

Production in all industries reduced 1.2 percent in March from the previous month, marking the fastest slide since January 2016. Manufacturers logged an average capacity rate of 70.3 percent in March, the lowest in nine years.

However, production in all industries grew 1.5 percent in April, turning around from the March reduction. The April growth was the highest since November 2016.

Exports in May advanced 13.5 percent over the year to 50.98 billion U.S. dollars, topping 50 billion dollars for the third consecutive month.

For the first five months of this year, the outbound shipments reached a record high of 246.4 billion dollars.

Growth forecasts for the South Korean economy in 2018 have been set at 3 percent by the BOK, the finance ministry and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) left this year's growth outlook for the South Korean economy unchanged at 3 percent though it revised down its outlook for the global economy to 3.8 percent from the previous 3.9 percent. Enditem