South Korea’s per-capita gross national income (GNI) is estimated to have reached an all-time high in 2012 despite the country’s low economic growth, the finance ministry Sunday.

The country’s nominal per-capita GNI probably came to US$22,720 last year, up 1 percent from the previous year’s $22,489, according to the ministry.

The ministry’s estimate is based on the assumption that the country’s nominal gross domestic product expanded 3.2 percent in 2012 from a year earlier, amounting to 1,240.5 trillion won ($1.15 trillion). On an inflation-adjusted basis, the South Korean economy grew 2 percent on-year last year.

Last year’s growth rate of the per-capita GNI, however, was much lower than the 9.4 percent on-year increase recorded in the previous year.

The ministry’s latest estimate is lower than its previous forecast. In August last year, the ministry forecast the country’s per-capita GNI to reach $23,159 for 2012, based on its 3.3 percent economic growth outlook and average currency exchange rate of 1,130 won per dollar.

South Korea’s per-capita GNI dropped to $19,161 and $17,041 in 2008 and 2009 in the face of the global financial crisis. The figure bounced back to $20,562 in 2010. (Yonhap News)