Korea Ranks Eighth Among 10 Asian Economies in Economic Growth for 2005 First Quarter

Korea’s economic growth for the first quarter (from January through March) was not ranked highly among major Asian economies.

The Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) said on July 13 that the real GDP growth of Korea in the first quarter was 2.7 percent, followed only by Japan and Singapore, out of 10 major Asian countries. Seven other economies, including China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan surpassed Korea in terms of real GDP growth.

China maintained the fastest growth rate among the 10 economies, posting 9.5 percent growth. Indonesia (6.3 percent), Hong Kong (6.0 percent) and Malaysia (5.7 percent) also grew considerably as shown by posted first quarter growth rates ranging between five to six percent.

The Philippines (4.6 percent), Thailand (4.4 percent), and Taiwan (4.0 percent) all grew by about four percent.

Compared to these countries, Singapore’s growth for the first quarter was just 2.5 percent and Japan’s over the same period was 1.3 percent.

Byong-Ki Lee eye@donga.com