IMF FORECAST ON S. KOREA'S ECONOMY

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The International Monetary Fund forecasts the South Korean economy will expand more than 4% this year. The latest outlook is much higher than its April forecast, as recovery in Korean exports is believed to have been factored in.

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​The IMF predicts 4.3% growth for the South Korean economy this year. It’s up 0.7 percentage points from April. The forecast is even better than the South Korean government’s outlook and the highest among predictions issued by major institutions. It's believed the revised outlook comes after considering the nation's economic recovery including on the export front. South Korea posted shipments of over 300 billion dollars in the first half, an all time high. Q2 private consumption also recorded the steepest growth in 12 years since 2009. The IMF’s forecast reflects conditions up until the second week of July when COVID-19 resurgence already took hold in South Korea. Therefore the virus surge does not appear to have influenced the outlook in a major way. The organization also raised the outlook on next year’s growth for Korea from 2.8 to 3.4%. Seven countries in total saw a rise in both this and next year’s growth prospects in the latest IMF report out of 30 countries with revised outlooks. With higher growth, outlook on Korea’s government debt which includes those of nonprofit public agencies also improved by 1.3 percentage points. As for the global economy, the IMF maintained a six percent growth outlook, the same as April.