(April 27): South Korea led the developed world to join China in exceeding the size of its pre-pandemic economy, as investment and exports helped it expand faster than expected.

Gross domestic product grew 1.6% during January-March from the previous quarter, the Bank of Korea said Tuesday, easily beating economists’ consensus for a 1.1% expansion. That pushed GDP above the level at the end of 2019, before the coronavirus hammered activity.