Choo Kyung-ho: "No Change in 'Sangjeohago' Economic Outlook"

Deputy Prime Minister Chu Reveals at Press Conference

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho emphasized on the 16th that “there is no change in the government’s outlook on the ‘Sangjeohago’ (low in the first half, high in the second half) trend of the Korean economy.”

Deputy Prime Minister Choo made these remarks during a press briefing held at the Ministry of Economy and Finance press room on the same day. He stated, “We are closely monitoring uncertain factors such as the uncertainty in China’s economy, global financial instability, and sharp rises in oil prices, but there is no change in the overall economic outlook of our economy.”

Major international organizations are revising down their growth forecasts for the Korean economy. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) lowered Korea’s economic growth forecast for this year by 0.2 percentage points from April to 1.3% last month. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released a forecast in June of 1.5%, which is 0.1 percentage points lower than the previous forecast in March. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also revised its forecast downward from 1.5% in April to 1.4% in July.

Regarding the downward trend in Korea’s economic growth forecasts, he said, “Recently, some institutions have adjusted their forecasts for Korea’s economy to around 1.3 to 1.4%, raising concerns about the ‘Sangjeohago’ outlook that the government projects, but at this point, there is not a significant difference from the government’s forecast (1.4%).” He added, “Each institution initially had an optimistic view of overseas economies such as Europe but has continued to revise their forecasts, resulting in various changes in figures. The government has been managing the economy by presenting figures that objectively reflect the state of the Korean economy from an early stage.”

The background for Deputy Prime Minister Choo’s emphasis on the ‘Sangjeohago’ outlook lies in the improvement of export indicators. He said, “Recently, export volume indicators have revived, and the decline in exports is gradually decreasing,” adding, “August has a seasonal characteristic of weak exports due to the summer vacation period, but from September, there is a high possibility that the trade balance will enter a structural surplus.” He further stated, “I expect it to turn positive in October.”

However, Deputy Prime Minister Choo added, “If external uncertainties such as prolonged instability in the Chinese economy increase, we may revise the economic outlook again.”

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