The government has unveiled its economic management plan for the second half. As expected, it raised its economic growth forecast for this year to 2.7 percent from the 2.3 percent projected in March.

The plan also forecasts the economy to add 300,000 new jobs this year, up from the previously projected 250,000 but much fewer than last year’s gain of 440,000.

Consumer prices were forecast to rise 1.7 percent, slower than the previous projection of 2.3 percent, while current account surpluses were seen expanding by $38 billion, $10 billion more than the earlier estimate.

Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok based the upward adjustment of the growth target on a series of stimulus measures the government has implemented since March and the slow but steady recovery of the global economy.

To stimulate the economy, the government implemented a real estate package in April and created the following month a 17.3-trillion-won supplementary budget, which officials said would boost GDP growth by 0.3 percentage point. In May, the Bank of Korea also cut the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points.

Hyun said the global economy would continue to grow, albeit slowly, despite increased financial volatility in the wake of U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s suggestion that the bank might end its massive bond purchase program next year.

Yet the revised growth forecast is not an easy target, although it is still way below the economy’s potential growth rate of around 3.8 percent. To attain it, the economy should grow at 3.6 percent in the second half of the year, double the estimated growth pace of 1.8 percent in the first half.

Some private research institutes have recently cut their growth projections, citing such downside risks as the Bernanke shock, growing uncertainties surrounding Abenomics and the rising risk of a hard landing of the Chinese economy.

To accelerate economic growth, the government needs to encourage corporate investment. Earlier this year, major business groups promised to invest more than they did last year. Yet data shows they have actually scaled back investment.

According to a tally compiled by CEO Score, a private research company, of the nation’s top 500 corporations, the 302 companies whose data are available invested a total of 31 trillion won in the first quarter, down 8.3 percent from a year ago.

In contrast, their cashable assets increased 10.8 percent, totaling 196 trillion won. They tightened their purse strings as economic uncertainty mounted at home and abroad.

They were also weighed down by concerns about the economic democratization bills pushed by political parties. They feared that these bills, if enacted, would impose new regulatory constraints on them.

The government needs to address the corporate concerns about lawmakers overreaching to rein in big business. It needs to step up consultation with the ruling party to ensure that legislation on economic democratization remains within the bounds of President Park Geun-hye’s campaign pledges.

Corporations should also realize that economic democratization is the trend of the times. They cannot reverse it by threatening to withhold investment or invest abroad. They should be prepared to live with it. In fact, a certain degree of economic democratization will actually benefit them.