The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that Korea’s economic growth in 2016 would be 0.2 percentage point lower than it had previously forecast, as waning global trade continues to drag down the export-driven economy.

It now expects Korea’s economy to expand 2.7 percent this year, down from 2.9 percent projected in January and 3.2 percent in October last year.

The revised outlook is lower than the Korean government’s prediction of 3.1 percent and Bank of Korea’s forecast of 3 percent, but in line with predictions from many private institutions which have recently slashed their forecasts for Korea to well below 3 percent.

Korea’s economy grew 2.6 percent in 2015.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)