S Korean economy to grow \\\'3.7pc this year\\\'

SEOUL, May 27 (Reuters): South Korea's top government think tank maintained its forecast for this year's economic growth at a lower level than the central bank's projection - while cutting this year's inflation forecast.
The Korea Development Institute (KDI) on Tuesday forecast Asia's fourth-largest economy would grow by 3.7 per cent this year, up from last year's actual 3.0 per cent but unchanged from its previous projection in November.
The Bank of Korea (BoK) in April raised its forecast for this year's economic growth to 4.0 per cent from the previous 3.8 per cent, citing changes in its method of calculating gross domestic product.
The institute cut this year's inflation forecast to 1.6 per cent from the 2.0 per cent seen previously, while sharply raising the current account surplus estimate for this year to $78 billion from $51 billion, it said in a statement.
The institute said the won would appreciate by an average of 6 per cent this year in terms of the real effective exchange rate, unchanged from its previous projection, while providing no forecast on market exchange rates.
It added South Korea had no need to significantly change macro-economic policies this year.