51% of Domestic Companies Expect Global Economy Growth to Slow in Second Half Compared to First Half

"Domestic Economy Maintains First Half Level" 43%, "Will Worsen" 42% Neck and Neck

[Asia Economy Reporter Yu Je-hoon] More than half of domestic companies predicted that the global economic growth in the second half of the year will slow down compared to the first half. According to Hyundai Research Institute, a survey conducted over seven days from the 25th of last month to the 3rd of this month targeting 120 major domestic companies showed these results, announced on the 15th.

According to the institute, among the responding companies (96 companies, response rate 83.3%), 51.0% answered that the global economic growth in the second half would "slow down compared to the first half." Responses stating "will maintain a similar level to the first half" accounted for 35.4%, while those expecting "faster growth than the first half" were only 13.5%.

Additionally, 90.6% of the responding companies cited "the spread and containment of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19)" as the biggest risk factor for the global economy in the second half of this year. Other factors such as the prolonged US-China trade dispute (6.3%) and economic slowdown in developed countries (2.1%) received single-digit responses.

Regarding the domestic economy in the second half, the most common response was "similar level to the first half" at 43.8%, but "worsening compared to the first half" was close at 42.7%. Only 13.5% responded that it would "improve compared to the first half."

For the future direction of the domestic economy, 55.2% chose "asymmetric U-shaped recovery," while 41.7% selected "L-shaped long-term stagnation." The economic growth rate of -1 to less than 0% was the most common at 46.9%.

Among the responding companies, 53.8% said their management performance in the first half was "worse than expected." Considering that 34.4% responded "somewhat below expectations," negative opinions approached 90%.

Hyundai Research Institute stated, "It is necessary to move away from an economic management direction mixed with short-term stimulus measures and mid-to-long-term growth potential expansion strategies, prioritize economic issues, and establish a roadmap for economic policies." They added, "Efforts should focus not only on enhancing the competitiveness of key industries but also on revitalizing corporate investment, which is the starting point of a virtuous economic cycle."

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