Gov't to revise growth outlook later this month: official

SEOUL, April 2 (Yonhap) -- The government will revise its growth outlook for this
year later this month to reflect the latest developments in economic conditions,
a senior economic policymaker said Thursday.
The economy, Asia's fourth-largest, grew 2.2 percent last year. While the
government earlier forecast a 2 percent contraction for this year, the Finance
Ministry expects its recently-proposed 28.9 trillion won extra budget will add
1.5 percentage points to the country's growth.
"We will revise our official growth outlook in late April after first-quarter
major indicators are announced," Vice Finance Minister Hur Kyung-wook told a
local radio program.
The nation's gross domestic product shrank 5.1 percent last quarter, the worst
drop since the first quarter of 1998 when it plunged 7.8 percent on-quarter in
the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, according to the nation's central
bank.
Experts cautiously expect that the economy might be nearing a bottom as
recently-announced economic indicators, including production data and a
better-than-expected trade surplus, are improving.
"There are some reasons to revise upward the projection... but it is difficult to
say with confidence that the economy has bottomed out," Hur said.
He cited worsening labor markets as a reason for his cautious stance, emphasizing
the need for "swift" enforcement of the extra budget awaiting approval in
parliament and more efforts to deregulate the nation's service sector.
Unemployment jumped to a four-year high of 3.9 percent in February with over
140,000 jobs eliminated from payrolls compared with a year earlier. The job loss
was the steepest since September 2003, government data showed.
(END)