Director Choi Ji-young of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on the 16th, "If there had been no war in the Middle East, the IMF would have forecast a higher growth rate for Korea."
Director Choi met with reporters in Washington, D.C., that day and stated accordingly, "The IMF's view of Korea is very positive."
On the 14th, the IMF released the April World Economic Outlook (WEO) and projected Korea's economic growth rate at 1.9%. It kept the previous projection. However, it expected inflation at 2.5%, up 0.7 percentage points (p) from the previous release.
Director Choi said, "In this WEO, (the IMF) lowered the global economic growth rate by 0.2 percentage points, but left advanced economies unchanged," adding, "It made the judgment based on a moderate oil price scenario, and in the short term it viewed that advanced economies have the capacity to respond."
She continued, "In this context, it appears Korea's growth rate was also maintained," and said, "If not for the Iran situation, the IMF might have projected a higher growth rate for Korea." She added, "Although this is not the IMF's official position, if a cease-fire comes quickly and the situation calms, I personally think the next forecast could show a much better growth outlook."
Regarding the IMF's expectation in its Fiscal Monitor report that Korea's liability will increase, Director Choi said, "What is fundamentally important is that it lowered the projected debt ratio." In the report, the IMF projected that Korea's general government debt (D2) as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) will reach 61.7% in 2030. That is 2.6 percentage points lower than the October projection (64.3%) last year. Director Choi said, "I think it is an overreaction or a misunderstanding to take this as a warning from the IMF."
Director Choi, who passed the 37th Higher Civil Service Examination, left public office last month after serving as Deputy Minister for International Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Finance and Economy. She then took office as an IMF director on the 6th of this month.