Seoul: The Bank of Korea (BOK) on Thursday raised its economic growth forecast for South Korea to 3.3 percent for this year, citing strong semiconductor exports driven by steady demand for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. The revision represents a 0.7 percentage-point increase from the BOK's previous forecast of 2.6 percent issued in May.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the central bank has raised its 2026 growth forecast two times since it projected 2 percent growth in February. For 2027, the central bank estimated its growth outlook at 2.9 percent, up from 2.1 percent in May.

The South Korean economy grew 1.8 percent in the first quarter from a quarter earlier, marking the strongest quarterly growth since the third quarter of 2020, when the economy expanded 2.2 percent. In the second quarter, Asia's fourth-largest economy expanded 0.6 percent, sharply exceeding the BOK's May forecast of 0.2 percent growth.

Against this backdrop, the government last month predicted the economy will grow 3 percent in 2026.