NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun has expressed concern over travelers who arrived in the country before the mandatory quarantine rule was introduced. He urged efforts by local governments to prevent those people from ignoring government advisories and contacting community members. He also ordered local authorities to designate civil servants who can exclusively monitor these individuals, and also carry out COVID-19 testing if they have the ability.
105 South Koreans have returned from Morocco at around 11:30 am this mroning, with the help of the country's government. They were stranded in Morocco where all flights are suspended. The passengers include tourists, business people and 45 volunteer workers from the Korea International Cooperation Agency.
The Asian Development Bank has forecast South Korea's economic growth will be in the lower one percent range this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. In its 2020 outlook issued Friday, the ADB predicted 1.3% growth for Korea this year and 2.3% for next year.
South Korea's foreign exchange reserves dropped by more than 8.9 billion dollars last month, marking the steepest fall since the 2008 global financial crisis. According to Bank of Korea data, the country's FX reserves recorded 400.2 billion dollars in late March, down by 8.96 billion from a month ago.