South Korea's per-capita gross national income (GNI), reflecting the actual purchasing power of the population, fell below the US$20,000 mark, the nation' s central bank said on Friday.

According to South Korea's Bank of Korea (BOK), the country's GNI per capita logged US$19,231 last year, down 0.8 percent from US$21,695 in 2007 when the country stood above the US$20,000 mark first time ever.

The country's per-capita GNI showed an upward movement as it hit US$17,531, US$19,722, and US$21,659 in 2005, 2006, and 2007, respectively.

The figure in 2008 marked the first fall since 1998 when the country was hit hard by the Asian Financial Crisis.

The fall in per-capita GNI is attributed to worsened trade conditions amid soaring raw material costs, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.

Meanwhile, South Korea's GDP in 2008 logged an on-year growth of 2.2 percent, compared with an earlier 2.5 percent estimate made by the BOK.

The GDP growth for 2008 was sharply down from the growth amount in 2007, 5.1 percent, and hit the lowest level since the economy contracted 6.9 percent in 1998.

"The worldwide economic recession pulled down the South Korean economy last year," Choi Chun-sin, director general of the BOK's economic statistics division, told a press conference.

"Although consumer and business spending remained sluggish, export growth sharply eased, and terms of trade are making an improvement as the country's import price growth has slowed," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2009)