The government is conducting its annual consultation with S&P, one of the three major international credit rating agencies, for the evaluation of the national credit rating. The decision on South Korea's national credit rating based on the results of the annual consultation is expected to be announced around May.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced that from the 10th to the 14th of this month, a delegation including Kim Eng Tan, S&P's Asia-Pacific head of sovereign credit ratings, and Andrew Wood, S&P's director in charge of sovereign credit ratings, will visit South Korea to conduct the 2025 annual consultation.
The delegation plans to visit government ministries such as the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, as well as research institutions including the Bank of Korea, Korea Development Institute (KDI), Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), and private companies to receive briefings on South Korea's economic situation and policy directions.
S&P intends to focus the annual consultation on key areas of interest such as development strategies in the semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors, real estate policies, measures to address polarization, sustainability of fiscal policy and the National Pension Service, responses to low birth rates, youth unemployment, the impact of U.S. tariffs, and household debt.
The government is systematically responding to this S&P annual consultation through the 'Intergovernmental National Credit Rating Joint Response Council' launched in January, and plans to arrange a face-to-face meeting with Choi Sang-mok, Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance.
The three major credit rating agencies have conducted annual consultations for South Korea's national credit rating every year (Moody's does so biennially), and typically announce credit ratings 2 to 3 months after the consultations based on their content. Previously, Fitch conducted its annual consultation in December last year and announced its credit rating in February this year.
S&P maintained South Korea's national credit rating and outlook at the existing level (AA, stable) in its announcement last April.
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