South Korea's economy grows 0.4 percent in Q1

South Korea's economy grew 0.4 percent in the first quarter from three months earlier, marking the lowest growth in three quarters, central bank data showed on Tuesday.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) reached 371.85 trillion won (323.9 billion U.S. dollars) during the January-March period, up 0.4 percent from the previous three-month period, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It was down from a 0.7 percent expansion in the fourth quarter of last year, marking the lowest increase since the second quarter of last year when the real GDP rose 0.4 percent.

From a year earlier, the real GDP increased 2.7 percent in the first quarter.

The lackluster first-quarter growth was attributable to both sagging exports and slowing private consumption.

Last week, the BOK revised down its 2016 growth forecast for the economy from 3.0 percent to 2.8 percent on concerns about economic uncertainties at home and abroad.

The South Korean government predicted a 2016 growth above 3 percent, but private think tanks lowered outlooks to the mid-range of 2 percent.

LG Economic Research Institute's 2016 growth outlook was set at 2.4 percent, with those by Hyundai Research Institute and the Korea Institute of Finance being downgraded to 2.5 percent and 2.6 percent respectively.