[THE INVESTOR] The International Monetary Fund kept South Korea’s economic growth forecast for this year and next year unchanged in its latest quarterly economic outlook, the Finance Ministry said on Oct. 4.

The agency earlier anticipated that the economy will expand 2.7 percent in 2016 and 3 percent in 2017, and it held the rates steady in its latest World Economic Outlook released globally.

It is slightly lower than the South Korean government’s growth target of 2.8 percent.

In its earlier report compiled after an annual consultation meeting with the Seoul government in June, the IMF said South Korea will maintain its growth momentum on the back of a stronger housing market and the impact of fiscal and monetary easing.

But a rapidly aging population and heavy export reliance will weigh heavily on the economy amid a slowdown in world trade.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)