South Korea lowers growth forecast

Seoul: South Korea revised down it’s expected 2017 growth rate on Thursday by 0.4 per cent to 2.6 per cent, a statement from the country’s finance ministry said. The ministry said the reason for the correction to its previous June estimate was the country’s ongoing weak domestic consumption. It said that job creation was only progressing slowly, in part due to the poor performance of the country’s ship building industry. The statement also warned that consumers should expect a faster increase in inflation due to rising oil prices. — dpa