By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter
South Korea's nominal gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to exceed $1 trillion this year as the economy will likely continue to expand at a solid pace on strong exports and reviving domestic consumption.
Also, the won is forecast to remain strong against the dollar in 2008, further pushing up the country's GDP in dollar terms.
According to local economic research institutes Thursday, Korea's nominal GDP _ the total value of goods and services produced within the country, which does not account for price increases, is estimated to reach $970 billion in 2007, up from $887.4 billion a year earlier. This year's figure will likely surpass $1 trillion as the nominal GDP has expanded by an annual average of $85 billion over the past four years.
According to data complied by the World Bank, the United States topped the GDP list in 2006 as the world's largest economy produced goods and services worth $13.2 trillion, followed by Japan with $4.32 trillion and Germany with $2.9 trillion.
Brazil's nominal GDP surpassed the $1 trillion mark for the first time in its history two years ago at $1.07 trillion, becoming the world's 10th largest economy.
LG Economic Research Institute economist Song Tae-jung said there were only about 10 economies whose nominal GDP exceeded the mark as of 2006. ``The Korean economy has grown at a rapid pace over the years with its 2008 nominal GDP widely expected to top $1 trillion.''
He said the country's strong outbound shipments of industrial goods have continued to play a major role in boosting economic output but the won's strength against the dollar over the past few years has also contributed to increasing Korea's GDP in dollar terms.
``The Korean economy now accounts for a larger portion of the global economy than ever before. But it still has a long way to go to catch up with the United States. and other advanced economies,'' Song said, stressing the country should make more efforts to increase per capita gross national income (GNI) to improve people's living standards.
In 2005, the country's per-capita GNI rose to $15,840, ranking 49th in the world. But Korea still lagged behind its Asian rivals as Hong Kong ranked 29th with $27,670 and Singapore 30th with $27,580, while Japan's per-capita GNI was the world's 12th largest at $38,950.