From the Korea Herald...........
Per-Capita GNP to Drop to $6,600 in '98: Think Tank
Economic slump and the tumbling won will sharply bite into Korea's per-capita gross national product this year, pushing it
down to as low as $6,600 from the $9,000 level last year, private think tanks projected yesterday. The LG Economic
Research Institute said that the Korean economy is expected to post a negative growth rate of 1.3 percent this year, with the
yearly average won/dollar rate rising 45 percent to 1,378 from last year.
Based on the macroeconomic targets, the per-capita income is forecast to decline to $6,988, the LG institute said. The current
year forecast marks Korea's shrinking GNP for three straight years. The 1996 GNP stood at $10,548, which in 1997 slipped
to $9,900 level. Meanwhile, the Hyundai Research Institute set the country's per-capita income between a low of $6,613 and
a high of $8,340. ''If the foreign currency crisis is eased earlier than expected, the nation's economy will grow by 2.9 percent
and the annual average won/dollar rate will stabilize at 1,150,'' said a Hyundai institute researcher.
''In case the settlement of the crisis should be delayed, however, the economy will register a minus growth reaching 2.2
percent, with the average exchange rate exceeding the 1,400 mark,'' he said. The Samsung Economic Research Institute
projected this year's per-capita income to slide to $7,363. As for other macroeconomic indicators, the Samsung institute said
that the economic growth rate could reach minus 3 percent, with the average won-dollar rate staying at 1,300. Korea's
per-capita income stood at $5,883 in 1990, $6,745 in 1991, $6,988 in 1992, $7,484 in 1993, $8,467 in 1994 and $10,037
in 1995. |
