Seoul  - South Korea's government on Tuesday lowered its forecast for 2009 economic growth from a previous 4 per cent to 3 per cent because of the global financial crisis.

President Lee Myung Bak told his cabinet that the depths of the current downturn was expected in the first half of 2009 as he ordered his government to act quickly to mitigate the impact of the crisis on South Korea and look toward its future recovery.

"Overcoming the pending economic crisis is very important, but what's more important is our readiness for the future," he was quoted as saying by the national Yonhap news agency. "Korea's further economic leap in the post-crisis era will largely depend on how we approach the current crisis."

The government's economic forecast released Tuesday was higher than last week's from the central Bank of Korea for 2-per-cent growth in the gross domestic product.

Yuk Dong-Han, a senior official at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, said South Korea, which saw 5-per-cent economic growth last year and an expected 3.6-per-cent this year, would achieve the 3-per-cent target by reducing regulation and increasing government spending.

"We don't expect our economy to be able to regain its normal pace of growth before 2010 as long as the global economy is actually moving deeper into recession under the heavy weight of the current financial crisis," Yuk said.

The official also said the current account surplus could rise to 10 billion dollars in 2009 after sinking an estimated 6 billion dollars in the red this year.

Job growth was projected to slow from 150,000 new hires in 2008 to 100,000 new hires in 2009, the ministry said.

The rise in consumer prices was expected to slow from 4.7 per cent this year to 3 per cent next year. (dpa)