Fitch Ratings, an international rating agency, predicted that South Korea's economic growth for 2009 would be -2.4 percent due to economic downturn, local media reported on Friday.

At its report of 2009 Non-Japan Asia Structured Finance Outlook, which was released on Thursday, Fitch Ratings said South Korean economy has been affected by the weakness in global demand after the global financial crisis occurred.

A minus GDP growth of South Korean economy will inevitably drive the unemployment rate higher than its actual range in the past five years, it said.

A likely rising unemployment rate, stagnant wages and possible home price depreciation would impact the individual borrowers' willingness and ability to service existing debts, it said.

Fitch said it believes the efforts by South Korean central bank, which has cut its key rate from 5.25 percent to 2 percent since October last year, have worked to ease individual obligors' increasing financial burden to a certain extent.

(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2009)