Samsung eyes U-shaped recovery of global economy

SEOUL, Dec. 24 (Yonhap) -- The global economy is expected to show a mild recovery
in the second half of 2009 after a pronounced decline and a sideways move, the
head of Samsung Economic Research Institute said Wednesday.
South Korea's export-oriented economy has been hit hardest by the U.S.-sparked
global economic downturn and its growth is likely to sharply decelerate in the
first-half of next year.
"The global economy is likely to make a U-shaped recovery in the second half of
next year and the pace of recovery will quicken in 2010," said Chung Ku-hyun,
chief of the research arm of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest business
conglomerate.
In a weekly meeting with Samsung executives, Chung said South Korean firms should
prepare for an upturn in the global economy in late 2009.
The business conglomerate is the parent of Samsung Electronics Co., the world's
largest maker of computer memory chips, and Samsung Heavy Industries Co., the
world's second-largest shipbuilder.
Early this month, the Bank of Korea predicted the South Korean economy would grow
two percent next year, compared with an estimated 3.7 percent growth for this
year. The economy recorded a five percent growth in 2007.
Some foreign economists were more conservative with their growth estimates, with
UBS of Switzerland forecasting recently the South Korean economy would shrink
three percent in 2009 in what would be the first annualized contraction since
1998.
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