Major foreign investment banks' average growth outlook for the South Korean economy has been downgraded to the 2 percent range for 2013 as growth momentum remains weak amid the global downturn, a report showed Wednesday.

A total of 10 investment banks forecast that Asia's fourth-largest economy will grow an average of 2.9 percent as of the end of January, down from a 3 percent estimate made in the previous month, according to a report by the Korea Center for International Finance.

Their outlooks compare with the 2.8 percent estimate made by the central bank and the government's 3 percent projection.

The report said that the downward revision mainly came as the economic growth in the fourth quarter of last year was more tepid than expected amid the protracted eurozone debt crisis.

The Korean economy grew 0.4 percent on-quarter in the fourth quarter, lower than the central bank's initial projection of 0.8 percent growth, as exports and domestic demand remained weak.

Four out of the 10 investment banks expect the Korean economy to grow in the 3-percent range this year, led by Morgan Stanley with 3.7 percent and Barclays with 3.3 percent, the report showed.

Nomura Holdings and Deutsche Bank presented the lowest growth outlook at 2.5 percent, trailing BoA-Merrill Lynch at 2.6 percent and JP Morgan at 2.8 percent.

The average of their forecast for Korea's inflation reached 2.6 percent as of end-January, slightly higher than the Bank of Korea's projection of 2.5 percent, the report added. (Yonhap News)