The Korean economy bounced back in 2021, with real GDP growth of 4% after a mild 0.9% contraction in 2020. We forecast Korea's fiscal deficit to narrow in the next two years. The general government balance should return to a surplus by 2024. S&P Global Ratings affirmed our 'AA' long-term and 'A-1+' short-term sovereign credit ratings on the Republic of Korea. The stable outlook reflects our expectation that the Korean economy will grow more than most other high-income economies over the next three to five years. The outlook is also predicated on our belief that geopolitical risks on the Korean peninsula will not escalate to the point of hurting Korea's economic fundamentals. On April 26, 2022, S&P Global Ratings affirmed
