Anchor: The gross national income(GNI) per capita in South Korea last year stood at over 33-thousand U.S. dollars. The economy expanded one-point-four percent, as growth during the fourth quarter posted zero-point-six percent.
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: The Bank of Korea(BOK) announced on Tuesday that the nation's gross national income(GNI) per capita came to 33-thousand-745 U.S. dollars in 2023, up two-point-six percent from a year earlier.

In terms of Korean won, the GNI per capita was 44-point-05 million won, up three-point-seven percent year-on-year.

The per capita GNI surpassed the 30-thousand-dollar mark for the first time in 2017, and climbed as high as 35-thousand-523 dollars in 2021.

The figure then slipped seven-point-four percent in 2022 due to the won's depreciation, resulting in the country's per capita GNI trailing behind Taiwan's for the first time in two decades.

In 2023, South Korea's GNI exceeded Taiwan's 33-thousand-299 dollars.

The South Korean economy, meanwhile, grew one-point-four percent last year from 2022, and zero-point-six percent quarter-on-quarter during the October to December period.

While both figures remained the same as preliminary estimates, construction investment in the fourth quarter was adjusted down by zero-point-three percentage points to four-point-five percent, and exports exceeded forecasts by point-nine percentage point to three-point-five percent.

The BOK forecast outbound shipments to continue to grow throughout the first quarter this year as facility investments show recovery stemming from the IT sector, but predicted that improvements in private consumption will remain slow.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.