Citing improving exports and construction investment in South Korea, Japanese bank Nomura Holdings raised its economic growth forecast for the country for this year to 2.7 percent.
The outlook was raised from 2.4 percent but the bank warned that South Korea’s economy is likely to show signs of mild growth in the second half of 2017 partly due to China’s retaliatory measures against the deployment of an advanced US anti-missile system.
Nomura’s upward revision for the South Korean economy was among the revisions made by various international banks. For its part, the Bank of Korea upgraded its growth forecast for the country to 2.6 percent in April.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s financial sector is on high alert following North Korea’s latest launch of a missile.
Specifically, the South Korean finance ministry has tightened its monitoring of the local financial market and keeping a close watch against any shockwaves spreading into the market and the real economy because of the missile launch.
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Following the ballistic missile launch, Pyongyang announced having successfully test-fired an international ballistic missile in an apparent attempt to challenge calls by the international community to halt weapons of mass destruction.
The Benchmark KOSPI lost 0.58% to close at 2,380.52 points while the local currency finished at KRW1,150.60 versus the US dollar, down KRW3.7 from the previous session.
An official from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, who declined to be named, said the ministry is checking into possible fallout from the North Korean provocation, though limited impact is expected. – BusinessNewsAsia.com