Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said South Korea is showing the fastest economic recovery among advanced countries since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. 

Hong made the statement on his Facebook on Thursday shortly after the Bank of Korea(BOK) announced its tentative estimate of the nation’s economic growth for the second quarter. 

The minister hailed the fact that the country's real gross domestic product(GDP) increased point-eight percent in the April to June period from the previous quarter, or point-one percentage point higher than the BOK's preliminary projection. 

He said with most major economies unveiling their economic performance for the second quarter, South Korea has seen the fastest pace of recovery among eight advanced nations that rank within the world’s top ten in terms of GDP size. 

South Korea’s GDP in the second quarter of this year was 101-point-four percent of its level in the fourth quarter of 2019, just before the pandemic broke out. The U.S. had the second-largest figure during that period followed by Japan, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Britain.