The South Korean central bank on Thursday raised to 2 percent its growth forecast for the local economy this year, citing strong exports and a recovery in private consumption.

The revision by the Bank of Korea (BOK) represents a 0.2 percentage-point increase from its previous forecast of a 1.8 percent expansion issued in November.

The revised outlook aligns with the government's growth forecast, while being slightly more optimistic than the 1.9 percent projections by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Korea Development Institute (KDI).

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) expects a 2.2 percent expansion, while eight major global investment banks, including Citi, UBS and Nomura, forecast an average growth of 2.1 percent this year.

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