On the 9th, President Lee Jae Myung stated that with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raising this year’s forecast for Korea’s economic growth from 1.9% to 2.6%, “It is surely good news, but we also know well that it is still hard for the public to feel it.”

While on a state visit to Mongolia, President Lee wrote on X, “The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected growth for Korea this year at 2.6%,” adding, “This is 0.7 percentage points higher than the figure projected in April, the largest increase among the 30 countries covered.”

He said, “By contrast, the forecast for global growth this year was revised down by 0.1 percentage points from April to 3.0%,” and, “The IMF also projected growth for Korea next year at 2.5%, an upward revision of 0.4 percentage points, the highest among major advanced economies.”

He added, “Despite high dependence on Middle Eastern energy imports, strong exports of semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI) hardware have lifted the growth outlook for the Korean economy.”

He stated, “We will work harder so that high economic growth becomes a reality and the fruits of growth are shared evenly by all citizens, leading to ‘growth for all’.”