Foreigners Pessimistic on Korean Economy

Many foreign businessmen are expecting the Korean economic situation to, at best, remain at a standstill or retreat further in 1999 which goes against the grain of Koreans' predictions.
The Federation of Korean Industries(FKI) on January 5 revealed its report titled '1999 Korean Economy Report: What Foreigners See' which surveyed members of 22 foreign financial companies such as Jardin & Flemming and IBM.
Forty-five percent of the total respondents predicted that Korea's economic growth rate would be near zero.
Eighteen percent expected 2 percent growth while another eighteen percent answered minus 4 percent growth rate for the Korean economy.
Approximately a third of those polled felt Korea should expect a negative growth rate for 1999.
The weak Japanese yen and the cooling of the United States' economy along with the possibility of China devaluating the yuan are all factors taken into respondents' account. Half of them viewed a 1200-1300 won to the dollar as the exchange rate and 30 percet replied less than 1200 won.
The time it will take before Korea returns to the economic level prior to the International Monetary Fund(IMF) bailout is at least two years(50 percent) to more than that(43 percent).
Most of the foreigners surveyed think that the recent business exchanges and restructuring moves are not satisfiable and they prefer more government intervention into the 'Big Deal'.