HOME
LINKS: ....Korean Stars Image gallery.
Stars Video Archives.
Photo Puzzles of Korean Stars.
Video Guide to Korea.
Beautiful Korean Autum Season Photos.
Traditional Clothes.
Traditional House & Architecture.
Traditional Dancing.
Mountains.
Foods.
Korean Celebrities
Foreign firms raise growth forecasts
Jan 04, 2006
Many foreign investors are rushing to raise their 2006 growth estimates for the Korean economy, citing unexpectedly strong overseas demand and the low chance of aggressive interest rate hikes, a state-run think tank said yesterday.
Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and seven other foreign investors have projected on average a growth rate of 4.7 percent this year for Asia's fourth-largest economy, up from the average of 4.3 percent projected in October, according to the Korea Center for International Finance.
The firms' average growth projections are roughly in line with the 5-percent growth rate predicted by the Korean government.
Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs estimate the economy to grow this year by 6 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively, while Merrill Lynch and Citigroup Inc. made estimates of 5.1 percent and 5 percent. Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley expect growth of 4.7 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively, for the economy. UBS projected a 3.9 percent rise and ABN Amro a 3.6 percent increase.
Exports, which account for about half of the economy, should remain robust, supporting economic growth. And stable inflation is likely to discourage speedy rate hikes by the Bank of Korea, according to the foreign investment firms.
The firms also said that private spending, which has been sluggish over the past two years, should pick up this year.
The economy grew 1.9 percent in the third quarter of 2005 from the previous quarter, its highest gain in almost two years, on the back of recovering domestic consumption and exports. Last year, the economy is estimated to have expanded around 3.8 percent, compared with 4.6 percent the previous year.
Korea's exports gained 12.2 percent from the year earlier to hit a record $284.7 billion last year, the third straight year of double-digit growth. The Finance Ministry projected that exports would rise 9.5 percent this year following last year's estimated 10 percent increase and 21 percent rise in 2004.
| 