Anchor: The South Korean economy is projected to grow in the one-percent range in 2023 due to a combination of factors ranging from a slowdown in exports, high inflation, and a grim outlook for employment. It will be only the fourth time that Asia's fourth-largest economy grows less than two percent.  
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: According to the government and the Bank of Korea(BOK) on Monday, the real gross domestic product(GDP) is forecast to expand in the one-percent range next year.

The government recently revised down its growth outlook to one-point-six percent, lower than the BOK's forecast of one-point-seven percent and one-point-eight percent projected by the state-run Korea Development Institute(KDI).

There have been only three times when Korea posted under two percent growth; following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, soon after the global financial crisis in 2009 and during the Asian financial crisis in 1998.

The biggest contributing factor is a slowdown in exports, which are largely affected by global economic conditions. The OECD has forecast the global economy to expand two-point-two percent next year, the lowest since 1971 exempting years impacted by the global oil shock, the financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Outbound shipments in October dropped five-point-eight percent on-year, which further worsened with a 14-percent fall the following month.

The government, meanwhile, forecast that inflation will decline from this year's five-point-one percent to three-point-five percent next year, citing falling prices of raw materials and demand, a projection still above the BOK's target of two percent.

If the nation's central bank maintains its key interest rate above three percent, that will likely stymie private spending that had been restored this year amid eased social distancing.

The government has also given a grim outlook for the job market, with employers predicted to add around 100-thousand workers next year, precipitously lower than this year's expected 800-thousand.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.