KDI Expects 2.2% Growth Next Year

The Korea Development Institute (KDI) expects a 2.2 percent growth rate next year. They forecast that the growth rate in the first half of next year will record 0.8 percent followed by 3.3 percent in the second half.
KDI reasoned that the economy's recovery will stem from a fall in interest rate levels and an increase in domestic consumption next year despite the negative 5.9 percent growth rate recorded this year.
KDI forecasted that the value of the won against the United States dollar should hover around the 1,200 won mark for 1999.
The unemployment rate will rise from the 6.8 percent at year's end to the 8 percent level next year, the KDI estimated.
The current account surplus will reach 23.6 billion dollars, half the level of this year, with imports increasing by 16.8 percent, the KDI forecasted.
Meril Lynch, the largest security firm in the U.S., estimated that the growth rate of the Korean economy in 1999 will average minus 1 percent with the average value of the won to be 1,250 won. It added that the three year due debenture's interest rate would be 8.8 percent while the KOSPI should settle at 570 points.
Nomura Economic Research Institute of Japan forecasted that Korea's growth rate will reach an average minus 0.5 percent with an average value of 1,225 won to the dollar. NER predicted an unemployment rate of 8.9 percent, current account surplus at 28.7 billion dollars and a rise in the consumer price index of 3.2 percent.