South Korea's economy grew at a slower-than-expected rate in the third quarter of the year amid softening export growth, central bank data showed Thursday, as exports slowed while domestic demand and investment in facilities improved slightly. The country's real gross domestic product, a key measure of economic growth, gained 0.1% on-quarter in the July-September period, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK), South Korea's News Agency (Yonhap) reported. The third-quarter figure is sharply lower than the market expectation of a 0.5% gain, and compares with the 0.2% on-quarter contraction in the April-June period and the 1.3% advance in the first quarter of the year. On a yearly basis, South Korea's economy grew 1.5% in the third quarter, slowing from 2.3% growth for the second quarter of the year. Private spending rose 0.5% on-quarter in the third quarter, recovering from a 0.2% on-quarter dip the previous quarter, the Korean central bank said. The country's exports contracted 0.4% i n the third quarter, compared with the 1.2% gain the previous quarter, while imports rose 1.5% in the July-September period, down from a 1.6% advance the previous quarter. Government spending gained 0.6 percent, and construction investment went down 2.8 percent in the third quarter, further contracting from the previous quarter's 1.7 percent fall, according to the data. The economy expanded 1.4 percent last year, decelerating from a 2.6 percent advance in 2022 and 4.3 percent growth in 2021. For the whole year, the bank expects the economy to rebound slightly, at 2.4 percent. Source: Qatar News Agency