InfoAnda - WRAPUP 1-S&P sharply lowers South Korea GDP forecast

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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail Yahoo! Search Search: Sign InNew User? Sign Up News Home - Help Navigation Primary Navigation Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Secondary Navigation Singapore Asia Pacific World Search Search: WRAPUP 1-S&P sharply lowers South Korea GDP forecast Reuters - Tuesday, February 17 * S&P sharply lowers South Korea's GDP forecast ADVERTISEMENT * S&P plays down South Korea foreign debt repayment concern * January exports fall record 33.8 percent, revised down * Long-dated treasury bonds shunned on supply concerns By Yoo Choonsik SEOUL, Feb 16 - Standard & Poor's on Monday sharply lowered its forecast for South Korean economic growth this year but said currency swap agreements with the United States, China and Japan have helped ease concerns surrounding banks' ability to pay back maturing foreign debt. The rating agency's prediction came after the release of more grim data, this time showing South Korean exports fell a record 33.8 percent in January over a year earlier, worse than a provisional 32.8 percent drop reported early this month. [ID:nSEO90398] Asia's fourth-largest economy will contract by about 3.5 percent this year, S&P sovereign ratings analyst Kim Eng Tan told Reuters in an email interview, down sharply from a zero growth forecast in late January. But he said concerns about South Korean banks' ability to refinance maturing foreign debt were not as serious now as late last year when they helped push the won <KRW=> to an 11-year low. "Concerns about this issue were probably more intense last November than they are now," he said. "The capacity of the government to support the banks has been augmented by its swap arrangements with the U.S., China and Japan. This is likely why, despite the government guarantee for their foreign currency borrowings, no bank in Korea has come out to sell a guaranteed bond yet," he added. South Korea has a 38 trillion won currency swap agreement with China, $30 billion line with the U.S. Fed and $20 billion agreement with the Bank of Japan. However, Fitch Ratings said the banks' ability to pay back foreign debt remained a concerned. "It has been Fitch's view for several months that Korean banks and corporates would face very difficult international funding conditions," James McCormack, Fitch's head of Asia-Pacific sovereign ratings, said in an email to Reuters. LONG-TERM BONDS SHUNNED Fitch rates South Korea at A-plus, a notch higher than S&P's A rating, but attached a negative outlook in November for a possible downgrade. South Korea offered late last year up to $100 billion in government guarantees for the country's banks to use when they borrow from abroad but no bank has tapped the facility yet. At end-September South Korea had $189.6 billion in short-term foreign debt of which $160 billion were owed by local banks. Banks have since paid back tens of billions of dollars, central bank officials have said. The won had plunged nearly 30 percent in less than two months since early September last year until late November, but has since recovered some of the losses after South Korea sealed the currency swap lines with the United States, China and Japan. The S&P's revised forecast on South Korea's economic growth is below the Finance Ministry's latest projection for a 2 percent contraction but above a 7 percent fall put by brokerage CLSA. As the increasingly gloomy outlook for the local economy placed President Lee Myung-bak's government under pressure to offer more stimulus measures, bond investors shunned buying long-term bonds issued by the government. The Finance Ministry sold only about 70 percent of the planned 800 billion won worth of 10-year treasury bonds put up for auction on Monday. [ID:nSEV000615] Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun said last week that it would submit to parliament additional spending plans to stimulate the domestic demand, but analysts have said the central bank may end up underwriting the bonds to help calm the market. For factbox on forecasts by major organisations for the South Korean economy see [ID:nSEO113430] Email Story IM Story Printable View Blog This Recommend this article Average (0 votes) Sign in to recommend this article » Most Recommended Stories » Related Articles: Business Israel cenbank to start buying government bondsReuters - 38 minutes ago Turkey receives 5 bids for lottery pre-qualificationReuters - 41 minutes ago Russia's GAZ seeks to restructure debtReuters - 43 minutes ago Singapore Airlines to cut 17% of fleetAFP - 46 minutes ago MOBILE FAIR-Turkcell studies terms of Ukrtelecom privatisationReuters - 51 minutes ago Most Popular – Business Viewed Earth-like planets in our galactic neighborhood Seductive chemicals hidden in sloppy kisses Climate change could be even worse than feared AIDS: 'Major advance' seen in revolutionary gene therapy Mexico wins new kissing record View Complete List » Search: Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! 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