South Korea’s Industrial Powerhouse

THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA is building an industrial powerhouse that appears certain to become a major factor in the world economy by the 1980s. Not only is the growth rate impressive, but the bouyancy and elasticity of the economy in face of the world recession and energy crisis are especially significant. In 1974, when South Korea was hit by the additional import bill of $1 billion because of higher oil and grain prices-the country imports 85 percent of its energy-the economy still managed to achieve an 8.6 percent increase in GNP in real terms. This past year, despite the full impact of the recession on Korean exports, tentative estimates by the Bank of Korea are for a 7.4 percent growth rate. These gains top a decade during which the economy has grown at an average annual rate of ten percent, putting Korea's 34 million people among the star economic performers of the whole Third World, along with Brazil, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. The Koreans are now putting final touches on their Fourth FiveYear Economic Development Plan. Confident and self-assured, they plan to grow at an average of nine percent annually through 1981. Perhaps even more important, during this same period the Koreans plan to shift sharply into the production of heavier machinery and other industrial goods for export. Most experts who know the country-including the Japanese-are prepared to accept these targets as realistic, given favorable world economic conditions and a continued general expansion of international trade

Business · Economics · Economy · Political science · Recession · World economy · Asian Industrial and Economic Development