South Korea's growth to outpace world for first time in 16 years, finance minister says

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Lee Hyung-il said Tuesday that the government would "further accelerate the pace of innovation" to sustain the country's hard-won growth momentum, following the International Monetary Fund's upward revision of South Korea's growth forecast. He also said the government would mobilize all available resources and capacity to address K-shaped economic polarization.

Lee made the remarks in a post on his X account, saying the IMF had raised its growth forecast for the South Korean economy this year to 3.3 percent, up 0.7 percentage points from its July projection.

He described the revision as "a considerably large adjustment" compared with the IMF's 0.1-percentage-point upgrade for the global economy and its average 0.4-percentage-point upgrade for advanced economies.

Lee attached particular significance to the fact that, if South Korea grows at 3.3 percent as the IMF projects, it would outpace the global growth forecast of 3.1 percent. "Excluding 2020, when COVID-19 broke out, this would be a meaningful achievement — the first time since 2010, or in 16 years," he said.

In its October World Economic Outlook released Tuesday, the IMF raised its growth forecast for South Korea this year to 3.3 percent from 2.6 percent, and lifted its outlook for next year to 2.8 percent from 2.5 percent, a 0.3-percentage-point increase. The fund said strong external demand, led by semiconductors, had overwhelmed the negative effects of the war in the Middle East, and identified South Korea alongside Taiwan as key trading nations in AI hardware.

Lee said the government had worked to support the economic recovery while expanding future growth engines. "The government has been supporting the economic recovery while working to build up future growth drivers, including the three mega-projects and the seven SEED initiatives," he said, reaffirming his commitment to sustaining growth through innovation.

Lee also stressed the government's intention to spread the benefits of growth more broadly across the population and industry. "We will ease K-shaped polarization and ensure that the fruits of growth reach more people and industries, driving even greater growth," he said. "To that end, we will mobilize all available resources and government capacity to address polarization, including through three core social policies covering housing, employment and financial services for ordinary citizens."