The International Monetary Fund(IMF) again cut its economic forecast for South Korea for this year to minus two-point-one percent due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The IMF's latest forecast represented a sharp decline of point-nine percentage points from its previous prediction of a one-point-two percent contraction in April. The South Korean economy is forecast to grow three percent next year. 

The IMF presented a bleaker outlook for the global economy, saying that the pandemic has had a more negative impact on activity in the first half of 2020 than anticipated and the recovery is projected to be more gradual.

It projected the global economy to contract four-point-nine percent this year, almost two percentage points lower than its last forecast presented in April. 

By country, the U.S. economy is predicted to shrink eight percent, while Japan and Germany are expected to contract five-point-eight percent and seven-point-eight percent, respectively.