`Korea needs 10 more years to reach $30,000 in avg. income`

Korea might need 10 more years before per-capita income reaches 30,000 U.S. dollars, a domestic think tank said in a report released Sunday.

Hyundai Research Institute said the country`s annual average income seems "trapped" in the cap of 23,000 dollars after breaking the 20,000-dollar mark in 2007.

"If per-capita GDP growth rate remains below 3 percent on the assumption that the won-dollar exchange rate will stay at its current level, it will take an additional 10 years to reach the 30,000-dollar mark," the report said.

According to the report, most advanced economies needed about eight years to jump from 20,000 dollars to 30,000 in per-capita income. On the contrary, Korea needs about 15 years to reach that level if the number of years to be taken is counted, starting from 2007.

To reach 30,000 dollars in per-capita income within eight years, the Korean economy must grow an annual average of 7.6 percent, an assumption that is unrealistic. The Bank of Korea predicts growth of 2.4 percent for this year.

The report blamed the gloomy outlook on the country`s economic structural problems and other factors such as the imbalance between exports and domestic consumption, a wider gap between the haves and have-nots, growing demand for welfare spending, and volatile geopolitical risk on the Korean Peninsula.

wiseweb@donga.com