The International Monetary Fund(IMF) has assessed South Korea’s response to COVID-19 as a success. 

In an analysis titled, “Mountains after Mountains: Korea is Containing COVID-19 and Looking Ahead”, posted on its website Thursday, the agency said the country was able to cushion the pandemic’s economic fallout thanks to “sound economic fundamentals and decisive policy response” and other factors. 

As a result, the IMF said Asia’s fourth largest economy contracted least last year among the advanced Group of 20 economies at minus one percent from a year earlier. 

The IMF also noted some issues Korea needs to address, such as an uneven recovery across industrial sectors, including sluggish indices regarding services and consumption, and its household debt, one of the highest in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD), at over 190 percent of disposable income.

It cited a high entry barrier for new firms and remaining labor market rigidities as necessary reform agendas for the country, and recommended strengthening of carbon pricing to provide robust incentives for green investment.