South Korea central bank chief says 2015 growth will be near 2.8 percent

SEOUL South Korea’s central bank chief said on Monday economic growth this year will be near the 2.8 percent level the bank had forecast in July.

The central bank will revise its forecasts later this month.

“Domestic consumption is considered to be in recovery and although I cannot pinpoint what our forecast revision will be, it will unlikely diverge largely from (our previous forecast),” Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol told lawmakers in parliament.

During the same session, Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan also said there are some downside risks to the government’s current GDP forecast for this year, which currently stands at 3.1 percent.

(Reporting by Christine Kim- Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)