Seoul: The government is considering lowering South Korea’s growth outlook for this year due to sluggish domestic demand hurt by the ferry disaster in April while it studies measures to revive the national economy, South Korea’s News Agency (Yonhap) reported yesterday.
The Ministry of Strategy and Finance is monitoring the aftermath of the ferry sinking and its impact on domestic consumption to reflect them in this year’s outlook as it prepares to announce economic management plans for the second half of this year. The announcement is expected later this month.
“The ministry is analysing economic activities of the first half of the year and reviewing this year’s economic outlook to set the policy direction for the latter half of this year,” a senior ministry official said, asking for anonymity. “We are considering whether to downgrade this year’s economic prospects as the Sewol ferry disaster occurred unexpectedly.”
The government in late May forecast South Korea’s economy to grow 3.9 percent this year, which is equivalent to 4.1 percent when reflecting recent changes in the calculation methodology for gross domestic product (GDP).
QNA
