IMF's Economic Forecast for South Korea. Yonhap News. 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected on the 14th that the South Korean economy will grow by 0.9% this year.

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the IMF included this forecast in its October World Economic Outlook report released on the same day.

The IMF releases economic outlooks for all member countries in April and October each year, and revised forecasts for the top 30 countries in January and July.

South Korea's growth rate forecast for this year was set at 0.9%, a 0.1 percentage point (p) increase from the July forecast. This figure is the same as the one announced during the annual consultation results on the 24th of last month.

This is in line with the government and the Bank of Korea (both at 0.9%), but lower than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) forecast of 1.0%.

The forecast for South Korea's growth rate next year remained unchanged at 1.8% from last July.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance stated, "This is interpreted as a forecast that our economy will return to a normal growth trajectory at the level of potential growth next year."

The IMF assessed that risks to the global economy still lean towards downward factors, citing ▲ trade uncertainty ▲ deteriorating productivity due to immigration restriction policies ▲ fiscal and financial market instability ▲ and the potential reassessment of new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) as major downward risks.

However, the IMF also mentioned that if trade conflicts ease and countries accelerate structural reform efforts, and productivity improves through AI adoption, it could act as an upward factor for the global economy.

Yonhap News