Economics

South Korea Falls Into Recession With Worst Contraction in Decades

  • Exports drag down economy most as global demand falls
  • Facilities investment plunges as companies slash spending
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
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South Korea’s economy slid into a recession with exports plummeting in the second quarter as the coronavirus pandemic hurt profits in some of the nation’s largest industries from automobiles to refineries.

Gross domestic product shrank 3.3% from the previous quarter, the Bank of Korea said in a statement Thursday, far exceeding economists’ expectation for a 2.4% drop. From a year earlier, the economy contracted 2.9%.