South Korea's per capital gross domestic product (GDP) is likely to mark a sharp drop to US$15,000 this year with the weakening local currency and the deteriorating economic conditions, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said on Wednesday.

The per capital GDP of the nation may hit below the US$15,000 level in 2009 for the first time in five years if the economy shrinks 4 percent and the local currency is traded at an average of 1,300 won against one US dollar as widely expected, according to Yonhap.

South Korea's per capital GDP climbed over the US$10,000 mark for the first time in 1995, but was dragged to US$7,477 in 1998 amid the Asian financial crisis.

It has stayed on an upward slope as the South Korean economy recovered from the crisis, breaking the US$20,000 level for the first time in 2007 with US$20,015.

The figure registered US$17,707 in 2008.

The grim projection on South Korea's per capita GDP comes as the South Korean economy, having contracted 5.6 percent last quarter from three months earlier, is widely expected to further slip into a deeper recession.

Meanwhile, the weakened local currency also pulls down the dollar conversion value of the nation's per capita GDP.

Analysts said that in the worst-case scenario of minus 6- percent economic growth, the per capita GDP figure may plunge to the US$12,000 level, similar to what the nation posted in 2003.

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2009)