(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Oul june 08 (qna) - the government is considering lowering south korea's growth outlook for this year due to sluggish domestic demand hurt by the ferry disaster in april while it studies measures to revive the national economy south korea's news agency (yonhap) reported sunday.
the ministry of strategy and finance is monitoring the aftermath of the ferry sinking and its impact on domestic consumption to reflect them in this year's outlook as it prepares to announce economic management plans for the second half of this year. the announcement is expected late this month.
"the ministry is analyzing economic activities of the first half of the year and reviewing this year's economic outlook to set the policy direction for the latter half of this year" a senior ministry official said asking for anonymity. "we are considering whether to downgrade this year's economic prospects as the sewol ferry disaster occurred unexpectedly." the government in late may forecast south korea's economy to grow 3.9% this year which is equivalent to 4.1% when reflecting recent changes in the calculation methodology for gross domestic product (gdp).
the state-run korea development institute last month lowered the estimated economic growth to 3.7% due to weakened domestic demand that was struck by the ferry incident a 0.2% downgrade from the previous growth outlook unveiled in november last year.
the revisions were announced as the ferry tragedy dented local consumption with people mourning the tragedy staying home and avoiding group gatherings and shopping.
economic activities in the private sector were also sluggish during the most recent reporting period. private consumption grew 0.2% which is 0.1% down from the estimated outlook by the bank of korea. (qna)
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