Asia Pacific: Economic overview

Moon Jae-in, the new president of South Korea, has stated his intention to reduce air pollution in the country. The move could support gas-fired generation.

Moon was sworn in as South Korea’s president a day after his election victory earlier this month. South Korea is being hit by heavy air pollution, and the issue was an important one during the campaign. Moon has pledged to improve air quality – and to temporarily close eight of the country’s older coal-fired power plants for the month of June. Although Moon’s energy policy has yet to be fleshed out, the forced shuttering of some of the country’s coal-fired power plants could support power sector gas offtake. South Korea is expected to achieve stable economic growth this year and next, which should support consumption of energy – including gas. The country’s GDP is forecast to rise by 2.7% in 2017 and 2.8% in 2018.