South Korean economy may contract in first half of 2009

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SEOUL, Dec 27 (AFP): President Lee Myung-Bak said Saturday South Korea's economy could shrink in the first half of next year for the first time since the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
"For the whole of 2009, we might achieve positive economic growth, but we might suffer an economic contraction in the first and second quarters," Lee was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.
Few countries would register positive economic growth rates in the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, he said before receiving government policy briefings at the presidential Blue House.
"The South Korean economy is also expected to hit bottom in the first half," he said.
Lee's remarks come after the government on December 16 cut its 2009 economic growth forecast by one percentage point to three per cent, citing the deepening global economic crisis.