SEOUL - South Korean Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki ruled out the need for a fourth extra budget this year and said that the economic shock from the coronavirus pandemic may have bottomed.
The government has so far pledged more than 270 trillion won , or roughly 14 per cent of its gross domestic product, to support businesses and families hit by the pandemic. Though most economists expect South Korea's GDP to contract this year for the first time since the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, Hong reiterated that the government's 0.1 per cent projection isn't out of reach if policy efforts are swiftly implemented.
"The atmosphere for an improvement of exports is turning more favorable," he said, while adding that overall shipments will still likely contract for the year. "The timing is too early to talk about normalizing the supply of liquidity as many companies are still complaining about a lack of liquidity," Mr Hong said.