56th ADB Annual Meeting Taking Place in Incheon from May 2 to 5

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Choo Kyung-ho of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, concurrently Chair of the 56th ADB Annual Meeting, asks for showing support and concern to the 56th ADB Annual Meeting, to be held at Songdo Conventia, Incheon, from May 2 to 5. (Photos: MOEF)

Thousands of financial policymakers, including finance and economic planning ministers, representatives of the multilateral development bank community, investment bankers, and representatives of nongovernment organizations, will assembled for the 56th Annual Meeting of the ADB Board of Governors, taking place in Incheon from May 2 to 5.

It will be the first in-person annual meeting since 2019. The latest annual meeting will be held under the theme “Rebounding Asia: Recover, Reconnect and Reform.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Choo Kyung-ho of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) will head a Korean delegation to the 56th ADB Annual Meeting, to be held at Songdo Conventia.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Choo Kyung-ho of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, concurrently Chair of the 56th ADB Annual Meeting, and Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok pose after they struck an MOU on the preparation of the ADB Annual Meeting at the Government Seoul Complex on Jan. 12. (Photo: Incheon Metropolitan City)

At the 55th ADB Annual Meeting held in Manila, the Philippines from Sept. 26 to 30, 2022, DPM-MOEF Minister Choo was elected as the chair of the 56th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the ADB.

The Korean government will convene the Host Country Event on the sideline of the annual meeting.

Korea’s delegates include the governor of the Bank of Korea and heads and representatives of commercial banks, including Shinhan Financial Group, KB Kookmin Financial Group, Hana Financial Group, NH Financial Group, Woori Bank, Korea Development Bank, IBK, and Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) as well as representatives of other financial institutions and the financial industry, including Korea Asset Management Corp. and the Korea Financial Investment Association.

This will be the third time the Republic of Korea will host the ADB Annual Meeting. Korea hosted ADB’s 37th Annual Meeting in Jeju Island in 2004 and ADB’s 3rd Annual Meeting in Seoul in 1970. Korea is a founding member of ADB.

The Annual Meeting is the largest gathering of the bank and a unique opportunity for ADB Governors to engage in focused discussion on development issues and challenges facing Asia and the Pacific.

A whole view of “Korea Pavilion” at the upcoming 56th ADB Annual Meeting.

‘Korean Economy Likely to Recover in 2nd Half of 2023’

ADB said that the Korean economy is forecast to recover in the second half of this year on a gradual basis, on the back of the effects of China’s reopening and the recovery of the global semiconductor industry cycle.

ADB Senior Researcher Yothin Jinjarak made the prediction on the Korean economy in an interview with Korean reporters at ADB headquarters in Manila on April 18.

In a report on the 2023 Asian economic outlook, released on April 4, ADB forecast that Korea will grow 1.5 percent this year. The growth rate is lower than a 1.6 percent growth rate, predicted by the Korean government, the Bank of Korea and the OECD, but it is the same as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted.

Jinjarak concluded that the growth of advanced countries would apparently slow down as the United States and Europe were forecast to grow less than 1 percent.

He said weakening demand of advanced countries’ imports, accounting for half of Korea’s exports, would have a bad impact on the growth of the Korean economy.

He said China’s departure from its zero- policy will be a favorable influence on the Korean economy, with Korea’s rising manufacturing exports and increasing Chinese tourists.

The researcher cited a prediction of seeing the global semiconductor industry recover from the second half of the year as one of positive factors.

ADB Managing Director General Um Woo-chong said, “The ADB Annual Meeting will focus on ‘Rebounding Asia: Recover, Reconnect and Reform,’ and with the end of the pandemic and online life, ADB and Korea will have to cooperate in rebuilding regional and global communities, helping developing countries recover from the pandemic and get reconnected with development partners of the whole of the world.”

As for the planned opening of ADB’s branch in Korea, Um said that ADB and ADB are building a knowledge hub in Korea to spur technology transfer in innovative technology areas of climate change.

Services, Retail, Facility Investment and Construction Investment Up

Services production, retail sales, facility investment and construction investment increased, while industrial production decreased in February 2023.

In February, the entire production increased (up 0.3%, month-over-month and up 2.9%, year-over-year) as services production (up 0.7%, month-over-month and up 7.2%, year-over-year) rose while industrial production (down 3.2%, month-over-month and down 8.1%, year-over-year) fell. In February 2023, retail sales (up 5.3%, month-over-month and down 0.8%, year-over-year) and facility investment (up 0.2%, m-o-m and up 5.7%, year-over-year) and construction investment (up 6.0%, m-o-m and up 22.4%, year-over-year) all went up.

Exports declined by 13.6 percent year-on-year in March 2023, led by a slump in the export of IT products such as semiconductors and displays. Average daily exports decreased by 17.2 percent from a year ago to $2.30 billion in March 2023.

The consumer sentiment index grew by 1.8 points in March 2023 to 92 from the previous month.

The business survey index (BSI) in March for the entire sector also rose by 3 points to 72 and the BSI outlook for April 2023 grew by 2 points to 73.

In February 2023, the cyclical indicator of the coincident composite index grew by 0.4 points while the cyclical indicator of the leading composite index fell by 0.3 points.

Employment rose at a faster pace, but consumer prices grew at a slower pace in March 2023.

The economy added 469,000 jobs year-on-year in March 2023 and the unemployment rate fell by 0.1 percentage points from a year ago to 2.9 percent.

The consumer prices rose at a slower pace by 4.2 percent year-on-year in March 2023 and the consumer price index excluding the food and energy sectors rose by 4.0 percent and the index excluding the agricultural and petroleum products grew by 4.8 percent.

In March 2023, stock prices increased, Korean treasury yields fell, and the won strengthened due to reduction of financial instability caused by the collapse of some small and mid-sized U.S. banks and expectations for shifting monetary tightening policies.

In February 2023, declines in housing prices (-1.49% to -1.15%, m-o-m) and prices of Jeonse (lump sum deposits with no monthly payments) (-2.29% to -1.80%, m-o-m) were somewhat slower than the previous month.

Amid a slower inflation increase in Korea, domestic demand recovery was seen mainly due to an increase of in-person activities, but economic slowdowns continued mostly in the manufacturing industry as indicated by downturns of exports and facility investment and other related situations.

The government will go all out to improve economic structure and boost economic vitality, focusing on the promotion of export, investment and domestic demand, on the back of the efforts to stabilize prices and people’s livelihoods and thoroughly manage risks at home and abroad.