A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) met with South Korea's finance minister on Thursday before wrapping up its two-week visit here for an annual meeting, officials said.

   The delegation led by Subir Lall, head of the IMF's Korea division, has been staying here since June 2 for talks with South Korea's key policymakers and industry leaders. On Friday, the team will have a press conference with South Korean journalists, where it may announce its revised economic growth outlook for South Korea.

   "The team visited the finance ministry today and held its final meeting with our officials," a finance ministry official said. "They also met with Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan in their first meeting since arriving in Korea."

   The official declined to comment on what was discussed during the meeting with the minister and other officials but noted that they talked about the overall economic conditions in Korea and fine-tuned the content to be announced in the press conference.

   In April, the IMF kept its growth outlook for Korea unchanged from its October prediction of 4.2 percent. However, it forecast that South Korea's inflation will rise 4.5 percent this year, which is much higher than the Seoul government's official target of containing price growth at around 3 percent.

   During its two-week stay, the IMF delegation held talks with officials from the finance ministry, the labor ministry and the land and transport ministry, along with the nation's central bank and financial watchdogs, including the Financial Services Commission.

   The main topics of discussion were South Korea's current fiscal status, capital market conditions and other issues, such as inflation. Discussions were also expected to be held on the impact of the debt crisis in Europe and the earthquake in Japan on South Korea's economy, the ministry earlier said.

Source: Yonhap News (June 16, 2011)