ID :
31123
Wed, 11/19/2008 - 18:35
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/31123
The shortlink copeid
S. Korea to post trade shortfall in 2009 on global recession
(ATTN: ADDS current account prediction at bottom)
SEOUL, Nov. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is expected to post a trade deficit for a second straight year in 2009 mainly due to declining exports amid worries over a global economic recession, a government report showed Wednesday.
According to the report submitted to parliament last week, South Korea's trade
deficit will amount to US$5.6 billion next year. Exports and imports were
estimated at $490 billion and $495.6 billion, respectively.
South Korea is likely to log a trade shortfall of around $9 billion this year,
the first red ink since 1997 when the nation was hit by an Asia-wide financial
crisis.
"The global economic recession will lead to a decline in overseas demand, which
will surely affect our export-driven economy," a finance ministry official said.
In the report, the government also revised down its private spending projection
from an earlier 4.5 percent growth to 2.5 percent for next year, reflecting the
latest economic conditions at home and abroad.
The adjustment comes as South Korea is gripped by growing jitters that prolonged
financial instability stemming from the U.S. could send the global economy into a
recession.
Exports, the backbone of the nation's economic growth, seemed to be taking a
beating from the global financial turmoil.
In the first 10 days of this month, exports plunged 26.3 percent to $9.87 billion
from the same period a month before, government sources showed. If the decline
continues, it will mark the first monthly contraction in exports since September
last year.
According to latest figures, October exports expanded 10 percent from a year
earlier to $37.8 billion but decelerated from a 22.9 percent advance a year ago.
The central bank said earlier that the nation's gross domestic product expanded
0.6 percent in the third quarter of this year from three months earlier, the
slowest rate in four years.
The government recently lowered its 2009 growth projection to 4 percent from an
earlier 5 percent expansion estimate.
Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry predicted in a press release that the nation will
post a current account surplus of around $5 billion next year thanks to
improvements in such areas as the service sector.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, Nov. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is expected to post a trade deficit for a second straight year in 2009 mainly due to declining exports amid worries over a global economic recession, a government report showed Wednesday.
According to the report submitted to parliament last week, South Korea's trade
deficit will amount to US$5.6 billion next year. Exports and imports were
estimated at $490 billion and $495.6 billion, respectively.
South Korea is likely to log a trade shortfall of around $9 billion this year,
the first red ink since 1997 when the nation was hit by an Asia-wide financial
crisis.
"The global economic recession will lead to a decline in overseas demand, which
will surely affect our export-driven economy," a finance ministry official said.
In the report, the government also revised down its private spending projection
from an earlier 4.5 percent growth to 2.5 percent for next year, reflecting the
latest economic conditions at home and abroad.
The adjustment comes as South Korea is gripped by growing jitters that prolonged
financial instability stemming from the U.S. could send the global economy into a
recession.
Exports, the backbone of the nation's economic growth, seemed to be taking a
beating from the global financial turmoil.
In the first 10 days of this month, exports plunged 26.3 percent to $9.87 billion
from the same period a month before, government sources showed. If the decline
continues, it will mark the first monthly contraction in exports since September
last year.
According to latest figures, October exports expanded 10 percent from a year
earlier to $37.8 billion but decelerated from a 22.9 percent advance a year ago.
The central bank said earlier that the nation's gross domestic product expanded
0.6 percent in the third quarter of this year from three months earlier, the
slowest rate in four years.
The government recently lowered its 2009 growth projection to 4 percent from an
earlier 5 percent expansion estimate.
Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry predicted in a press release that the nation will
post a current account surplus of around $5 billion next year thanks to
improvements in such areas as the service sector.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
(END)
