South Korea's economic growth could fall in 2020s: think-tank

[SEOUL] South Korea's slowing population growth and stalled productivity could reduce its annual average economic growth to 1.7 per cent during the next decade from 3.0 per cent seen so far this decade, the country's top government think-tank said on Thursday.

If industry does succeed in improving productivity, annual economic growth could average 2.4 per cent in the 2020s, the Korean Development Institute (KDI) said.

Economic growth slowed to 2.7 per cent last year from 3.1 per cent in 2017 and the central bank sees it further slowing to 2.5 per cent this year, although the Bank of Korea's forecast is still above projections made by private-sector organisations.

REUTERS