IMF ups Korea’s growth forecast to 2.3% for 2024

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S. [Photo by Reuters]

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday revised up its growth outlook for South Korea for 2024 to 2.3 percent from 2.2 percent after reflecting the country’s improving exports and consumer sentiment.

In its January update of the World Economic Outlook, the IMF revised up Korea’s 2024 economic growth outlook by 0.1 percentage point to 2.3 percent from the previous forecast of 2.2 percent in October 2023.

The upward revision reflects the recovery in exports driven by chips and improving consumer sentiment.

The IMF’s forecast for the country surpasses the 2.2 percent projection by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the 2.1 percent estimate by the Bank of Korea. It also exceeds the 2.1 percent projection made by seven global investment banks.

When it comes to the global economy, the IMF projected a growth at 3.1 percent in 2024, up 0.2 percentage point from the previous forecast.

“The slight upgrade from our October projections is largely due to resilience in the United States and several large emerging markets and developing economies, coupled with more fiscal support in China,” the IMF said in a report.

The IMF revised up the economic growth outlook for the United States by 0.5 percentage point to 2.1 percent while that for China has been upgraded by 0.4 percentage point to 4.6 percent.

Japan’s growth forecast, on the other hand, has been revised down by 0.1 percentage point to 0.9 percent.