The economy grew 0.5 percent in fiscal 1999 from the year before, recovering from negative growth logged for the preceding two years but slightly falling short of the government target of 0.6 percent growth for fiscal 1999, the Economic Planning Agency said Friday.
The year-on-year growth came as the EPA announced that the figures for the January-March period, in which the gross domestic product grew a real 2.4 percent -- or an annualized 10 percent -- compared with the previous quarter, following two consecutive quarters of shrinkage.
The quarter-to-quarter growth was the best since the 2.6 percent for the January-March period of 1996. Driving the rise was private consumption, which grew 1.8 percent, and private-sector spending on plants and equipment, which was up 4.2 percent.