NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

The World Bank is predicting that the global economy will expand 2.5 percent this year, down 0.2 percentage points from its previous prospect at 2.7 percent released in last June. The adjustment is due to worse-than-expected trade and investment.
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon who is currently in the States to take part in the CES, is hoping to host the CES consumer electronics show in the Korean capital city. Park made the proposal in a meeting with Gary Shapiro, president of the U.S.' Consumer Technology Association, who reportedly gave a positive response to the proposal, noting Seoul's world-class convention accommodations and infrastructure facilities.
According to the Rural Development Administration, over 70 percent of consumers purchase farm products directly from producers through e-commerce channels. The volume of online transactions has increased 25 fold from 2001 to top 2.5 trillion won. The finding was made in a poll of 1,000 people.
A survey by the Seoul city government shows that 27.5 percent of female workers in Seoul earn a monthly wage of as much as 1.47 million won on average. The rate is three times higher than that among their male counterparts. Only some 54 percent of women 15 years old or over are participating in economic activities. This is far lower than the rate among men, which comes to nearly 72 percent.