S.Korea's economic growth rises to 5-year high in Q3

South Korea's economic growth rose to the highest in about five years during the July-September period on the back of a recovery in private consumption from the negative effect of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak, central bank data showed Friday.

The consumer spending was also bolstered up by the government's stimulus efforts and a record-low interest rate, the bank said.

The real gross domestic product (GDP) increased 1.2 percent in the third quarter from the previous quarter, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). From a year ago, the broadest measure of economic performance grew 2.6 percent.

The quarterly growth marked the highest since the second quarter of 2010 when the on-quarter GDP growth was 1.7 percent. It topped the BOK's earlier forecast of 1.1 percent for the third quarter.

After falling below 1 percent in the first quarter of last year, the quarterly GDP growth kept the zero-percent rate for five straight quarters to the second quarter of this year when the figure dropped to 0.3 percent following the MERS outbreak.

The seasonally adjusted figure for private consumption increased 1.1 percent in the third quarter after sliding 0.2 percent in the second quarter as the negative effect from the deadly viral disease almost disappeared.