A top executive of the International Monetary Fund said that South Korea's economic growth rate could slow to as low as 4% in 2008 citing such challenges as the global slowdown coupled with surging oil and commodities prices.

The executive in an interview with Yonhap News Agency said that “IMF staff is currently in the midst of our regular annual Article IV discussions with Korean officials and their projections could be revised as a result of those discussions. But we do expect growth to slow this year, most likely to somewhere in the range of 4% to 4.25% before beginning to recover in 2009, hinting that Asia's fourth largest economy will hit a trough this year.”

The forecast on South Korea is more conservative than a 4.3% gain that the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development predicted earlier this month. It is also the latest downbeat growth projection for South Korea, as the government struggles to attain its target of 6% growth for this year in the face of toughening conditions at home and abroad.