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The Korea Development Institute, a government-funded think tank, forecasts Korea's GDP growth rate next year at 3.3 percent. In a report on the second half of 2008 released Wednesday, the KDI predicted that the economic slowdown will reduce growth from 4.2 percent this year.
The KDI's economic outlook for 2009 is lower than the government¡¯s 4 percent and most of civilian think tanks¡¯ such as Samsung Economic Research Institute (3.6 percent), LG Economic Research Institute (3.6 percent), Korea Economic Research Institute (3.8 percent), and Korea Institute of Finance (3.4 percent).
Cho Dong-chul, chief economist at KDI¡¯s macroeconomics team, said, "Since the international financial market stagnated in September, the economy has been taking a rapid downturn. In the first half of next year, the growth rate will be down to 2.1 percent, but will rise to 4.4 percent in the second half as the economy recovers."
The KDI predicts that the current account deficit of US$8.2 billion this year will turn into a surplus of $8.6 billion next year. Consumer price increases will stabilize at 3.6 percent next year, down from 4.8 percent this year, with oil prices falling, the KDI predicted.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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