Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho has forecast that South Korea's economy will grow in the three percent range next year due to recovery in global trade.
 
Visiting Washington to attend annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, Minister Yoo told correspondents on Friday that given current conditions, three percent growth will be possible.
 
But he added that unpredictable external factors can also occur.  He explained that lower raw material prices including that of oil had shrunk the global trade volume which also negatively affected Korean exports. He predicted that the situation will improve next year.
 
The International Monetary Fund has forecast that the South Korean economy will grow two-point-seven percent this year and three percent next year.
 
The forecasts are lower domestically with the Bank of Korea projecting two-point-nine percent growth in 2017. The LG Economic Research Institute is more pessimistic with an outlook of two-point-two percent growth.