South Korean economy expected to grow 3.4pc this year.

Byline: S. Kamal Hayder Kazmi

Nine global investment banks estimated South Korea's real GDP growth rate for this year at an average of 3.4 percent at the end of last year, up 0.01 percentage point from the previous month.

Credit Suisse raised its estimate from 2.9 percent to 3.6 percent and HSBC raised its estimate from 2.2 percent to 2.7 percent. Barclays (3.2 percent), BoA-ML (3.4 percent), Citi (3 percent), Goldman Sachs (3.6 percent), JP Morgan (3.5 percent), Nomura (3.6 percent) and UBS (4.1 percent) did not change their estimates.

When it comes to the South Korean economic growth rate for 2020, their average estimate is negative 1.1 percent. Their average estimate for 2022 is 2.8 percent. Specifically, those of UBS, JP Morgan and Citi are 3.8 percent, 3.5 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively. The respective...