A screen displays the closing figure of the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) inside a trading room at Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, on April 8, 2026. <\/p>\n
Hwawon Lee | Anadolu | Getty Images<\/p>\n
South\u00a0Korea’s economy\u00a0beat\u00a0expectations in the first quarter of 2026 to\u00a0record the fastest\u00a0growth\u00a0since mid-2020, as\u00a0booming\u00a0semiconductor demand offset\u00a0the\u00a0drag\u00a0of weak\u00a0public spending, central bank data showed on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Gross domestic product expanded 1.7% in the January-March quarter from the prior three months, the Bank of\u00a0Korea\u00a0said, blowing through the median Reuters\u00a0poll\u00a0estimate of 1.0% by a wide margin.<\/p>\n
The gain marks\u00a0the strongest quarterly jump since the third quarter of 2020 for Asia’s fourth-largest economy, when it was on a post-pandemic rebound.<\/p>\n
Growth\u00a0was\u00a0driven by a 5.1% jump in exports,\u00a0led by\u00a0shipments of “IT components including semiconductors” used in artificial intelligence infrastructure, the BOK said.<\/p>\n
Private consumption\u00a0rose 0.5% after showing\u00a0tentative signs of recovery in January and February as household confidence improved, while government expenditure\u00a0grew just 0.1%.<\/p>\n
Facility investment gained 4.8% after shrinking 1.7% in the last quarter of 2025.<\/p>\n
From a year earlier,\u00a0South\u00a0Korea’s economy grew 3.6%, compared with a 1.6% expansion in the fourth quarter and beating a median estimate\u00a0for\u00a02.7%\u00a0growth.<\/p>\n