In the first quarter this year, Korea's per-capita real gross national income (GNI), a gauge of people's purchasing power, rose 13.2% from a year earlier and 9.2% from the previous quarter, the Bank of Korea said on the 9th. That far outpaced the first-quarter real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 1.8%. It means the total income Koreans actually earned exceeded the value added produced domestically. The Bank of Korea analyzed that improved terms of trade—rising export prices and falling import prices—were a factor.
According to the "preliminary first-quarter national income" the Bank of Korea released that day, nominal GNI, which does not account for price changes, increased 17.1% from a year earlier and 11% from the previous quarter. This also topped the nominal GDP growth rate of 10.5%.
"Nominal net factor income from abroad," meaning net pure income earned overseas, increased by 1.37 trillion won, expanding from the previous quarter's 920 billion won. This is tallied as interest and dividends Koreans and corporations brought in from overseas minus interest and dividends foreigners earned in Korea. Real net factor income from abroad, adjusted for price changes, also increased by 1.16 trillion won, up from 820 billion won in the previous quarter.
The gross saving rate was 41.7%, up 5.7 percentage points from the previous quarter. While gross national disposable income rose 11.2%, final consumption expenditure increased by only 1.2%. The household net saving rate was 8.8%, which was shown to have declined by 0.3 percentage points from the previous quarter.