Per-capita GNI
According to the Hyundai Research Institute, Korea’s per-capita gross national income (GNI) is estimated to be around US$28,000 at the end of this year, to show a 6.8 percent growth from a year ago. The figure is based on the average won-dollar exchange rate of 1,052 won per U.S. dollar for the period of Jan. 2 to Dec. 24. In won, the per-capita GNI is approximately 29.5 million won.
“Since 2000, the per-capita GNI has increased by about US$2,000 each year, except for some cases such as the global financial crisis,” the research institute explained, adding, “This year, the increment is expected to total nearly US$1,800, led mainly by the drop in average exchange rate.” The average exchange rate for this year is about 43 won lower than that of last year.
The per-capita GNI of Korea broke the US$20,000 mark in 2010, when it reached US$22,170, and has remained below US$30,000 since then. The US$30,000 mark may be broken next year if the Korean economy continues its normal growth rate.
The institute used an economic growth forecast of 3.6 percent and a GDP deflator of 1.3 percent in calculating the figure while applying the Bank of Korea’s average exchange rate estimate to the calculation.
The per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) is forecast to be slightly below US$29,000. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently assumed that Korea’s per-capita GDP for this year would be at US$28,738, which is 25th among 35 major countries.
The Korean government’s economic growth forecast and consumer price inflation estimate for 2014 are 3.4 percent and 1.3 percent, 0.5 percentage points and 1.0 percentage point lower than at the end of last year, respectively. The inflation rate was 1.3 percent in 2013, too. This is mainly because of the national economic recession and sluggish domestic demand.