President Lee Jae-myung stated on July 9 that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised its economic growth forecast for South Korea to 2.6% for this year, and he will work to ensure that the benefits of this growth are shared by all citizens.
On the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), President Lee highlighted that this figure is an increase of 0.7 percentage points from the forecast made in April, marking the largest rise among the 30 countries assessed.
The IMF also projected South Korea's economic growth rate for next year at 2.5%, an increase of 0.4 percentage points. President Lee described this as the highest level among major advanced economies.
He noted that the global economic growth forecast has been adjusted down by 0.1 percentage points to 3.0% since April.
President Lee explained that despite a high dependence on energy imports from the Middle East, strong exports of semiconductors and AI hardware have boosted the growth outlook for the South Korean economy.
However, he acknowledged that the improvement in growth forecasts has not yet been fully felt by the public.
“While this is undoubtedly good news, I am aware that it is still difficult for the public to feel the impact,” President Lee said. He promised to work harder to ensure that high economic growth becomes a reality and that the fruits of this growth are distributed equitably among all citizens.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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