한은, 올해 성장률 전망 2.6→2.5%로 하향…수출·투자 부진

The Bank of Korea lowered the nation's economic growth forecast to 2-point-5 percent... citing sluggish exports and investment.
The BOK also kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1-point-7-5 percent for April.
Ko Roon-hee breaks down the digits for us.
The Bank of Korea on Thursday lowered South Korea's economic growth forecast for this year to 2-point-5 percent.
This is down from its earlier projection of 2-point-6 percent back in January.
As for why, the central bank pointed to two main reasons.
"The BOK has lowered its growth forecast for this year by 0-point-1 percentage points. This is because exports and investment were more sluggish than expected in the 1st quarter. We expect the growth trend to gradually recover in the future, thanks to the expansion of fiscal spending and improvement in exports and investment figures."
The announcement comes after Korea's outbound shipments decreased on-year for 4 consecutive months... mainly due to poor chip sales.
Facilities investment also dropped by more than 10-percent on-month in February.
An expert pointed to domestic reasons for the low investment by companies.
"Korean economy is still tied up with fairly heavy regulations, the government regulations, and local government regulations as well. Also, the rise in labor costs is another concern. We have increased the minimum wage fairly rapidly for the last 2 or 3 years."
On a brighter note, consumption is expected to grow moderately by 2-point-5 percent.
The BOK expects 140-thousand new jobs to be added this year, up from last year's figure of 100-thousand.
Reflecting the slowing overall economic growth, the Bank of Korea on Thursday also kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1-point-75 percent for April.
The central bank has maintained its key rate at the same level since November last year... when it raised the rate by a quarter of a percentage point.
When the BOK explained the background behind the decision, it pointed to the low inflation rate.
Korea's consumer price index fell to within the zero to one percent range... mainly due to the drop in prices of agricultural and petroleum goods.
The central bank predicts the index will rise by 1-point-1 percent this year.
Analysts added this move comes after many major countries such as the United States affirmed their commitment to being patient with monetary policies.
"The Bank of Korea added that it will keep its accommodative monetary policy... because the demand-end inflationary pressure isn't that great."
Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News.