Samsung sees S. Korean economy growing 3.9 pct in 2010

SEOUL, Sept. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's economy is likely to expand 3.9 percent
next year after contracting 0.8 percent this year, a research unit Samsung Group.
the nation's biggest industrial conglomerate, said Wednesday.

Resilient export growth, quick implementation of economic stimulus packages by
the government and a recovery in domestic consumption along with rising asset
prices are factors that could help Asia's fourth-largest economy strongly rebound
in 2010, according to the Samsung Economic Research Institute.
"Next year, both exports and imports are predicted to grow at a double-digit
rate," said Chung Ki-young, head of the institute in a weekly meeting with chief
executives at Samsung.
In 2010, South Korea's per-capita gross domestic production will probably recover
US$20,000, Chung said.
Samsung's forecast is more optimistic than Moody's Investors Service. On Tuesday,
the credit ratings agency predicted the Korean economy to grow 3 percent next
year.
Hit by the global economic crisis, South Korea's export-oriented economy has been
grappling with its worst downturn in a decade.
But there were growing signs the economy is back on a growth track. In the
April-June period, the economy grew 2.3 percent, compared with a 0.1 percent
expansion a quarter ago and a 5.1 percent shrinkage in the final quarter of last
year.
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