IMF official forecasts "substantially negative" growth for S Korea's economy

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Chinese media) -- South Korea's economy is expected to post "substantially negative" growth in 2009 amid a global economy slowdown but will return to growth in 2010, a senior official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Monday.

South Korea is being severely affected by the global crisis with a sharp slowdown in growth in the fourth quarter last year, said Anoop Singh, Director of IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, in a statement submitted to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.

Singh said the carryover effects of the very weak fourth quarter of 2008 mean the headline growth number for 2009 will be "substantially negative", but he predicted the economy should begin to recover during the second half of 2009.

"A clearer picture for the performance of the economy this year can be seen by the fact that growth in the 1st quarter of 2009 compared with the last quarter of 2008 is expected to be positive 1 percent. This is broadly in line with projected global growth and above growth for all major advanced economies. Indeed, the Korean economy should return to potential in 2010," he added.

He said South Korea's strong fundamentals of economy, comprehensive and forward-looking countermeasures against global turmoil will help it recover from the recession.

"There is considerable uncertainty about precisely when global growth will begin to recover, but once it does-most likely by the second half of this year-Korea appears well positioned for a solid recovery," he said it the statement.

The official didn't provide specific numbers for South Korea's negative growth.

According to the most recent IMF World Economic Outlook update, the global economy is projected to grow by just 0.5 percent in 2009, the slowest pace since World War II.