Economy to grow 3.1% in 2013: HRI
Korea’s economy is expected to grow 3.1 percent next year, a private think tank said yesterday, revising down its earlier growth forecast on weakened domestic demand and exports.The latest forecast by the Hyundai Research Institute (HRI) is lower than the 3.5 percent growth predicted in October. The think tank also cut its growth estimate for this year from 2.5 percent to 2.2 percent.
“The private sector consumption growth remained in the 1 percent range this year, and investment in construction and facility also posted minus growth for two consecutive quarters,” the think tank said.
“Domestic demand has weakened and a recovery in exports is not sufficient, so we lowered our growth estimates,” it added.
Its growth forecast for next year is in line with other research institutes. It is still much lower than the government’s growth outlook of 4 percent.
The HRI expected that private-sector consumption will grow 2.5 percent next year. Construction and facility investment will expand 2.2 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively.
The think tank also forecast that the country will register a current account surplus of $28.5 billion next year, down from this year’s estimated surplus of $39 billion. Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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