The Korean economy is likely to maintain steady growth this year, but at a slower pace than other Asian countries, according to the Asian Development Bank.

Korea’s gross domestic product is forecast to grow at 3.7 percent on-year in 2014, up from 2.8 percent in 2013.

That is slower than Singapore and India with 3.9 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively, the ADB said in its annual Asian Development Outlook report.

China’s growth rate remains high in the region at 7.5 percent in 2014, followed by the Philippines and Indonesia with 6.4 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively.

The ADB predicted that Asia would achieve overall growth of 6.2 percent in 2014 and 6.4 percent in 2015.

Meanwhile, the ADB said in its inaugural “Asia SME Finance Monitor” report, released Friday, that small and medium-sized enterprises in the Asian region need better access to finance to grow.

The report found there were 3.2 million small and medium-sized businesses in Korea in 2011, which provided 86.9 percent of the total jobs. Those SMEs, however, accounted for only 31.3 percent of the country’s GDP.

(596story@heraldcorp.com)