The size of the Korean economy is expected to remain the 10th in the world this year and next year.
According to the World Economic Prospects of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Korea's nominal gross domestic product this year was estimated at $1.82 trillion in U.S. dollars, or about KRW 216.6 trillion in Korean money.
This is the 10th largest among 191 countries worldwide.
Korea's nominal GDP next year is expected to be 197.77 billion dollars, or 226.6 trillion won, which is also expected to rank 10th in the world.
If the IMF's forecast is realized, Korea will maintain the world's 10th largest economy for three consecutive years from last year to next year.
Korea can maintain its 10th place this year and next year because it is expected to continue its decent economic growth despite the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.
The IMF's growth forecasts for Korea this year and next year are 4.3% and 3.3%, which is not far behind the global economic growth forecasts of 5.9% and 4.9%, including high-growth countries.
Looking at the average growth rate for 2020-2021 based on the performance figures and the IMF forecast, Korea is 1.7%, which is higher than that of the seven major countries.
The two-year average growth rate was 1.3% in the US and 0.2% in Canada, recording positive growth, but the remaining countries such as the UK, France, Germany, Japan and Italy are all estimated to be negative.