Hong Nam-ki "Growth Rate 2%, Maintaining Psychological Margin... Confidence in Economic Recovery"

Private Sector Posts Positive Growth for Second Consecutive Quarter... "Very Positive Signal"
Acceleration of Innovation in Five Key Areas Including Industrial Innovation and Demographic Change Response

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, said on the 22nd that South Korea's economic growth rate last year recorded 2.0%, meaning "a 2% growth signifies that the psychological threshold of the market was maintained."

On the same day, Hong held the 3rd Materials, Parts, and Equipment Competitiveness Committee meeting at Kyungin Yanghaeng in Incheon and stated, "Through 2% growth, market concerns were blocked, and I believe this will serve as an opportunity to gain confidence in laying the groundwork for future economic recovery."

Hong said, "Despite many difficulties last year, we managed a V-shaped rebound in employment, a shift toward improved distribution, and maintained a 2% growth rate?three major indicators representing the national economy?achieving a reasonably good outcome." He added, "This was possible because the people, businesses, and government united and made earnest efforts."

The Bank of Korea announced in its preliminary report on the fourth quarter and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that last year's real growth rate was 2% compared to the previous year.

Hong said, "Although the private sector cannot be fully satisfied, the fact that it continued positive growth for two consecutive quarters compared to the previous quarter is a very positive signal," adding, "Private investment, which had been declining for six consecutive quarters, turned to growth compared to the previous quarter for the first time in seven quarters due to improvements in facility investment."

He also said, "Among the 3050 Club countries, we ranked second, and among G20 countries, fifth," adding, "Considering that Germany, which has a similar economic structure to ours, saw its growth rate shrink to less than half at 0.6%, it is evaluated that companies performed well despite difficult circumstances."

The government plans to faithfully fulfill additional economic support roles going forward. He said, "We will do our best to achieve 2.4% growth this year by going all-in on boosting private sector vitality and the dynamism of our economy through a 100 trillion won investment project, 20 million inbound tourists, and the spread of the second venture boom."

Finally, he stated, "We will make special efforts in structural innovation across five major sectors, including industrial innovation and responding to demographic changes, to fundamentally expand growth engines and raise the potential growth path to the next level."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.