By <font color="#0070c0">Kim Tae Won</font> and <font color="#0070c0">Sohn JiAe</font>

Standards & Poor’s announced on Aug. 18 that it would leave Korea’s credit rating unchanged at AA with the nation's economic outlook remaining stable.

The international credit-rating service has maintained an AA credit rating, its third-highest grade, on Korea since August 2016.

“Although geopolitical tensions have risen of late on the Korean Peninsula, we believe a direct armed conflict is unlikely,” the agency said. “The stable outlook for Korea reflects our expectation that geopolitical risks on the peninsula will not escalate over the next two years.”

As for economic conditions in Korea, S&P said that, “Korea’s economic performance has been stronger than that of most other high-income economies in recent years. The Korean economy remains well-diversified and is not dependent on a particular industry or export market.”

The rating company projected that Korea’s average GDP per capita will rise to above USD 33,000 in 2020, from approximately USD 29,000 this year. It also estimated that the trend rate of the nation’s real per capita GDP growth would be 2.3 percent higher than the typical 0.3 to 1.5 percent range observed in most high-income countries. Korea’s current account surplus would widen to a record 8.5 percent of GDP this year, and overall economic growth would hit 2.8 percent, it projected.

twkim0717@korea.kr