SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has lowered South Korea's 2019 growth outlook to 2.1 percent, according to South Korean Finance Ministry.
The revised forecast was down from 2.4 percent estimated in July, citing the deepening of the global trade dispute and economic slowdown in major economies, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said.
The 2020 growth forecast for the South Korean economy was also cut from 2.5 percent to 2.4 percent.
The country's real gross domestic product (GDP), adjusted for inflation, expanded 1.0 percent in the second quarter from three months earlier, after unexpectedly diminishing 0.4 percent in the first quarter.
The Bank of Korea (BOK) slashed this year's growth outlook for the economy from 2.5 percent to 2.2 percent in July. The central bank cut its target rate from 1.75 percent to 1.50 percent in the month.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) also lowered this year's growth forecast for the economy from 2.4 percent to 2.1 percent last week.
South Korea's export kept sliding for the ninth consecutive month through August amid the global trade dispute.
Adding to the uncertainty, South Korea locked horns with Japan since July when Japan tightened regulations on its export to South Korea of three materials vital to make memory chips and display panels, the mainstay of the South Korean export.
Japan dropped South Korea off its whitelist of trusted trading partners, which are given preferential export procedure, in August. In response, Seoul also took Tokyo off its whitelist of trusted export partners.
