BOK issues mixed outlook for leading economies

The US and Japan are expected to continue their economic recovery in 2017, while China and the eurozone will likely post slower growth than this year, South Korea's central bank said Sunday.

The "Big Four" economies accounted for 61.1 percent of the world's gross domestic product last year, according to the International Monetary Fund. And, 40.7 percent of global trade came from the four.

"The key to the recovery of the global economy is growth momentum of the Big Four economies," the Bank of Korea said in a report on world economy.

The four are projected to stay largely on a modest economic growth path in the coming year, it added.

Especially, U.S. growth is expected to expand in the lower part of the 2-percent range on increased consumption based on more jobs and wage hikes from around 1.5 percent this year, the BOK said.

The Japanese economy will also improve next year, boosted by more consumption, facility and public infrastructure investment, it said.

But China's growth is likely to slow to 6.5 percent from an estimated 6.7 percent this year due to pressure from structural reform on the supply side, said the BOK.

The eurozone is also forecast to record around 1.5-percent growth in 2015, lower than 1.7 percent expected this year, it said, adding there are a host of downside risks from the new U.S. administration's policy direction and political uncertainties in some European countries. (Yonhap)