SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea unveiled on Monday an economic stimulus package worth at least 14 trillion won ($10.98 billion) to help assure a soft landing in Asia's fourth-largest economy in the face of a looming global recession.
The Finance Ministry said in a statement it would expand fiscal spending by 11 trillion won in 2009 and offer additional tax cuts totaling 3 trillion won.
It also said it would sharply raise the size of bond sales to fund intervention in the foreign exchange market and offer a state guarantee on foreign-currency deposits at local financial institutions.
The ministry said the measures, the most aggressive introduced in recent years, were aimed at lifting the country's economic growth in 2009 by an additional 1 percentage point to around 4 percent.
The economy would see annual growth fall to around 3 percent next year without the measures from an early 4 percent level estimated for this year, the ministry said.
The ministry said it expects the country's current account to swing to a surplus of about $5 billion in 2009 after posting its first annual deficit in 11 years of about $10 billion this year.
The measures were announced hours after government figures showed that the country's exports posted their slowest annual growth in 13 months in October.
They are still subject to approval from the parliament, in which the ruling Grand National Party holds a majority.
($1=1274.5 Won)
(Reporting by Cheon Jong-woo, Writing by Yoo Choonsik; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)
