Korea to grow in 3% range this year: Finance Minister

유일호 “재정•통화정책 여력 충분…올해 3%대 성장 가능” With today being election day... and the country's growth still in the slow lane,.... economic issues were likely on the forefront of people's minds as they turned to polling stations. And while there is growing skepticism among economists,... about Korea being able to expand in the three percent range this year,... the country's finance minister is confident that it will be able to meet its target. Hwang Ji-hye has the details. Seoul's Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho says... Korea has enough room to implement both fiscal and monetary policies to prop up growth. This came during his briefing on the Korean economy for foreign investors in New York on Tuesday, local time. During an interview with Bloomberg there, he also opened the door for an extra budget,... saying if global economic conditions worsen further, the government could rely on more fiscal power. With that... Yoo emphasized... three-percent-range growth is an attainable target for the Korean economy. The government's growth forecast for this year currently stands at 3-point-1 percent. Despite the possibility of more easing, the minister's outlook is considered rather rosy compared to global and local financial institutions that expect Korea to fall short of expansion in the three-percent range this year. The International Monetary Fund also downgraded its latest outlook for the country to 2-point-7 percent. These grim projections are widely attributed to external economic conditions. "Global conditions are worse than expected and because of that... exports are off track, even if they picked up slightly in March. Pressure from this could justify significantly downgrading the outlook." The IMF also says... slowing demand in China will continue to take a toll on the Korean economy. Korea's total exports have plunged for 15 straight months now, and those include, of course, shipments to China, which make up a quarter of total exports. "Still, new figures from China are showing a silver lining. Fresh export data points to more confidence that the country is regaining stability, rising 11-and-a-half percent in March on-year, in dollar terms, -- the fastest pace in a year. Hwang Ji-hye, Arirang News." Visit ‘Arirang News’ Official Pages Facebook(NEWS): http://www.facebook.com/newsarirang Homepage: http://www.arirang.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/arirangtv Twitter: http://twitter.com/arirangworld Instagram: http://instagram.com/arirangworld