It beat the median 0.5% rise forecast in a Reuters survey of economists and marked the biggest quarterly growth since the second quarter of 2022. "Qualitatively, it is not so positive as the headline figure indicates," said Park Sang-hyun, chief economist at HI Investment Securities. Asia's fourth-largest economy is expected to grow 1.4% in 2023, down from 2.6% in 2022, according to the latest forecasts by the central bank and the government. "The upshot is that the central bank, enabled by falling inflation, is likely to step in to support the economy by loosening monetary policy in the coming months," said Shivaan Tandon, emerging Asia economist at Capital Economics. Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Ed Davies, Kim Coghill and Sam HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Persons: Asia's, Shivaan Tandon, Jihoon Lee, Ed Davies, Kim Coghill, Sam Holmes Organizations: Gross, Bank of, HI Investment Securities, Capital Economics, Thomson Locations: SEOUL, Bank of Korea, Asia