SEOUL, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's economic growth was limited by weak export and construction investment, the finance ministry said in its monthly economic assessment report, called Greenbook, on Friday.
The ministry said in the Greenbook that export and construction investment kept falling to restrict economic growth, though the economy maintained a growth momentum in industrial production and private consumption.
A senior ministry official told a press briefing that the reduction in export and construction investment maintained the economic growth below a potential growth rate, estimated at a range of 2.5-2.6 percent.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised down its 2019 growth outlook for the South Korean economy to 2.0 percent early October from 2.6 percent estimated six months earlier.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) downgraded this year's growth forecast for the economy from 2.4 percent to 2.1 percent in September.
The country's real gross domestic product (GDP), adjusted for inflation, added 0.4 percent in the third quarter from three months earlier, after expanding 1.0 percent in the second quarter.
The Greenbook noted that the global economy slowed down on the weakened global trade and the manufacturing slump as well as the global chip industry's downturn and the ongoing trade spat between Seoul and Tokyo.
Export, which takes up about half of the export-driven economy, kept sliding for 11 straight months to October.
Production in the mining and manufacturing industries grew 2.0 percent in September from the prior month, while output among services companies declined 1.2 percent in the month.
Facility investment in September continued to rise for the fourth straight month, but completed construction slipped 2.7 percent in the month on a monthly basis.
The construction sector suffered a setback as the government unveiled a series of measures to control speculative investment in the real estate market.
The sale of passenger cars rose 1.1 percent in October from a year earlier, keeping an upward trend for two months in a row.
Online sale advanced 5.4 percent last month, with credit card spending adding 4.6 percent in the month.
