Sovereign Ratings of Korea and Japan Same in 2003

England based Barclays Capital forecasted that the sovereign ratings of Korea and Japan will be same at A1. And it predicted that the purchasing power of Korea would exceed that of Japan in 10 years.

Korea`s rating is heading upward due to the continuous restructuring and business recovery, while Japan`s ratings are downgraded.

Dominique Dwor Frecaut (photo), director of Asian Research at Barclays Capital had a press meeting on the 10th, and said, “Korea went through intensive restructuring after foreign exchange crisis, but Japan has focused on temporal stimulating. ”

Director Dwor Frecaut has once taken charge of Korea analysis at International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He said, “if the current trend of Korea continues and Japan fails in fundamental restructuring, Korea could close the per capita gross national income gap with Japan within 10 years with purchasing power parity (PPP) at same level. ”

Do-Young Kim nirvana1@donga.com