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| Korea sharply raises 2010 trade surplus forecast |
| 03-SEP-2010 | Dow Jones Newswires | AFP |
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| 3 Sep, 2010 - 7:00:00 AM |
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South Korea Wednesday sharply raised its forecast for this year's trade surplus to 32 billion dollars from 20 billion, following better-than-expected exports in the first half.
The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in a statement it now expects exports to rise 26 percent this year to 458 billion dollars and imports to increase 32 percent to 426 billion.
The country in August recorded a trade surplus of 2.08 billion dollars, much smaller than the previous month's 5.51 billion.
Exports rose by a disappointing 29.6 percent year-on-year to 37.53 billion dollars, while imports increased 29.3 percent to 35.45 billion.
The ministry attributed the export weakness to seasonal factors such as workers taking summer holidays.
It cautioned that the economy faces possible downside risks such as slower growth in the United States and China and the aftermath of the eurozone's sovereign debt crisis.
An Byung-Hwa, head of the ministry's export-import division, said South Korea in the first half was the world's seventh largest exporter -- after China, the United States, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and France.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100901/tbs-skorea-economy-trade-0a37ea7.html
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