South Korea's economy is expected to grow 3.7 percent in 2015 with its exports rising at a slightly faster rate to reach a record high, a state-run think tank said Tuesday.
   
In its report, the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET) said local economic conditions were continuing to improve, though the rate of economic recovery slowed from the start of the year.
  
"In 2015, the local economy is expected to post an annual growth of around 3.7 percent, slightly higher than that of this year, on a recovery in domestic consumption stemming from a rise in growth of exports and stimulus measures," the report said.
   
Such an outlook is slightly lower than a 3.9 percent on-year rise forecast earlier by the country's central bank.
   
The KIET forecast the country's consumer spending will grow around 3 percent in 2015 with investment in plants and equipment rising 5.5 percent on-year.
   
South Korea's outbound shipments are expected to reach US$604.3 billion, breaching the $600 billion mark for the first time in the country's history.
   
Such a rise will mark a 4.5 percent on-year growth from this year's overall exports, which are anticipated to be $578.1 billion, up 3.3 percent from a year earlier.
  

However, the country's trade surplus is expected to shrink from this year's $43.4 billion to $37.4 billion as imports are expected to grow at a faster rate of 6 percent on-year to $566.9 billion, according to the KIET.
   
The think tank said the country's information technology (IT) sector will likely lead the anticipated increase in overall exports.
   
Shipments by the IT sector are expected to rise 4.5 percent on-year with shipments of semiconductors expected to gain 7 percent. Exports by the non-IT manufacturing sector will likely increase 2.3 percent on-year, the report said. (Yonhap)