Bleak external conditions cloud outlook for S. Korean economy: report

SEOUL, May 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's economic downturn is easing on the back of
the government's expansionary measures, but bleak external conditions make a
sustained recovery difficult to predict, a finance ministry report showed
Thursday.

In the report submitted to President Lee Myung-bak, the Ministry of Strategy and
Finance said that it will maintain its current policy direction by continuing to
enforce stimulus measures and pushing to restructure the corporate sector in a
bid to avert the first minus growth in more than a decade.
"Financial markets are stabilizing and some indicators are pointing to an eased
downturn of the economy with the government's expansionary macroeconomic measures
paying off," the ministry said in the report.
"However, the pace of recovery is still slow and uncertain external conditions
still make it difficult to predict whether the recovery will be sustainable," it
added.
The broad economic assessment comes as some experts are cautiously raising hopes
that the economy, Asia's fourth-largest, could recover at a faster-than-expected
pace as some indicators are showing that the worst is nearly over.
Buffeted by a protracted global downturn, the South Korean economy is feared to
contract 2.4 percent this year, the first minus growth in more than a decade,
according to the latest prediction by the central bank.
Last month, the National Assembly passed a 28.4 trillion won extra budget,
helping to speed up the government's bid to revive the sagging economy.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
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