By Min Yea-Ji and Yoon Sojung

A British economic think tank on Dec. 25 predicted that Korea will rise to one of the world’s ten largest economies by 2026 and could rank sixth in 2030 if reunification of the Korean Peninsula occurs.

These are among forecasts made by the London-based Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) in its annual report “World Economic League Table 2019.”

In its ranking of the world’s developed and emerging economics by GDP measured in USD, the center had Korea in 11th place.

Given the recent rapprochement in inter-Korean relations, the report said, “If it develops further it could become a major stimulus to growth.”

“A unified Korea at South Korean living standards would have a GDP that would be the sixth largest in the world in the 2030s overtaking both the UK and France.”

CEBR further predicted that Korea’s GDP “will rise at annual rates of 2.7% 2018-23 and 3.0% 2023-33.”

“Korea is a fast growing and wealthy economy in Asia which in GDP per capita terms is rapidly catching up with its neighbour Japan,” it added, mentioning Korea’s GDP per capita of USD 41,420.

The report also said that since the end of the 1997-98 Asian economic crisis, Korea has emerged as a global leader in ICT hardware.

The full version of the CEBR report is available from its homepage ttp://cebr.com/welt-2019.  
http://cebr.com/welt-2019

jesimin@korea.kr