ID :
34475
Mon, 12/08/2008 - 12:17
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/34475
The shortlink copeid
Investment banks forecast average 1.2 pct growth for S. Korea
SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Yonhap) -- Major global investment banks lowered their 2009 growth
projections for South Korea to near 1 percent, citing a faster-than-expected
worldwide recession and its impact on the nation's export-driven economy, data
showed Monday.
According to the data provided by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the
Korea Center for International Finance, seven major investment banks including JP
Morgan predicted Asia's fourth-largest economy will grow an average of 1.2
percent next year, far lower than a 3 percent expansion predicted a month
earlier.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley expected South Korea's economy to grow 3.1
percent and 2.7 percent, respectively, in line with predictions by local private
think tanks.
JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch, however, forecast South Korea's economy to grow 1.5
percent, while Barclays Bank predicted a 1 percent advance. Switzerland-based UBS
predicted that South Korea's growth will contract 3 percent next year, in what
would be the first contraction in 11 years.
The gloomy outlooks come as South Korea's government steps up efforts stimulate
its sharply slowing economy with a raft of economic stimulus packages amid
slumping domestic demand and anemic export growth.
The state-run think tank Korea Development Institute earlier said that South
Korea's economy faces a deterioration in domestic demand and a rapid fall in
exports, which indicates a "sharp" economic downturn.
According to the Bank of Korea, the central bank, the nation's gross domestic
product expanded 0.5 percent in the third quarter from three months earlier, the
slowest in four years.
The government stayed mum on a possible downgrade of its 4-percent annual growth
projection for next year, on which it crafted the nation's 2009 budget spending
and tax revenue outlooks.
Officials, however, said that it is a "foregone conclusion" that the growth
projection will be trimmed, with some expecting the revised outlook will fall in
the mid-3 percent range.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
(END)
projections for South Korea to near 1 percent, citing a faster-than-expected
worldwide recession and its impact on the nation's export-driven economy, data
showed Monday.
According to the data provided by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the
Korea Center for International Finance, seven major investment banks including JP
Morgan predicted Asia's fourth-largest economy will grow an average of 1.2
percent next year, far lower than a 3 percent expansion predicted a month
earlier.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley expected South Korea's economy to grow 3.1
percent and 2.7 percent, respectively, in line with predictions by local private
think tanks.
JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch, however, forecast South Korea's economy to grow 1.5
percent, while Barclays Bank predicted a 1 percent advance. Switzerland-based UBS
predicted that South Korea's growth will contract 3 percent next year, in what
would be the first contraction in 11 years.
The gloomy outlooks come as South Korea's government steps up efforts stimulate
its sharply slowing economy with a raft of economic stimulus packages amid
slumping domestic demand and anemic export growth.
The state-run think tank Korea Development Institute earlier said that South
Korea's economy faces a deterioration in domestic demand and a rapid fall in
exports, which indicates a "sharp" economic downturn.
According to the Bank of Korea, the central bank, the nation's gross domestic
product expanded 0.5 percent in the third quarter from three months earlier, the
slowest in four years.
The government stayed mum on a possible downgrade of its 4-percent annual growth
projection for next year, on which it crafted the nation's 2009 budget spending
and tax revenue outlooks.
Officials, however, said that it is a "foregone conclusion" that the growth
projection will be trimmed, with some expecting the revised outlook will fall in
the mid-3 percent range.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
(END)
