ADB "Due to COVID-19 Impact, South Korea's Economic Growth Rate to Remain at 1.3% This Year"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] The Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecasted that South Korea's economic growth rate will remain at 1.3% this year due to the impact of the coronavirus.

On the 3rd (local time), ADB released the '2020 Asian Development Outlook,' projecting the economic growth rate of 46 member countries in Asia to be 2.2% this year.

This is a downward revision of 3.0 percentage points from the forecast of 5.2% made in December last year.

ADB expected negative growth for Hong Kong (-3.3%) and Thailand (-4.8%). China is also forecasted to grow by only 2.3%.

However, it projected that the economic growth rate of Asian countries will rebound to 6.2% next year.

South Korea's growth rate forecast for this year was revised downward by 1.0 percentage point from the December forecast (2.3%) to 1.3%.

ADB presented South Korea's growth rate forecast for next year as 2.3%.

ADB emphasized that "the global spread of COVID-19 is a major risk factor for the Asia-Pacific region and the world economy," and stressed the need for "swift and decisive policy implementation."

Additionally, it recommended that "for inclusive and sustainable growth, developing countries in the region must pursue innovation policies," and to this end, "five policies should be promoted: reforming the education system, fostering entrepreneurship, institutional reforms such as intellectual property rights, development of capital markets, and creating dynamic cities linking universities and innovative companies."

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