South Korea ranked 14th worldwide in terms of nominal gross domestic product for a fifth straight year in 2013, according to the country’s central bank Sunday.

South Korea’s GDP was valued at $1.3 trillion in 2013, remaining unchanged since 2009. In 2005, Asia’s fourth-largest economy had ranked 10th, but tumbled to 15th in 2008 during the global economic crisis.

GDP is the broadest measure of an economy’s performance, and it indicates the total value of goods and services produced within the economy in a given period.

The 2013 data was the first time the BOK had taken research and development expenditures, weapons purchases and spending on cultural products into consideration when calculating GDP. On Thursday, the BOK lowered its economic growth forecast for South Korea this year to 3.8 percent from 4 percent.

(596story@heraldcorp.com)