According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL = Yonhap News) Global investment banks (IBs) forecast that South Korea's economy will advance at a faster pace next year from 2013, data showed Thursday, in line with an overall rosy outlook for advanced countries.

Projections from 17 major IBs said South Korea's gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic performance, is expected to grow 3.54 percent in 2014, compared to the 2.77 percent estimated for 2013, Bloomberg data showed.

Barclays projected the highest growth at 4.1 percent for 2014, followed by Nomura with 4 percent. BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and Moody's suggested 3.9 percent, the data showed.

The rosy outlook is in line with that for the United States and the eurozone, whose GDP is anticipated to grow 2.6 percent and 1 percent on-year, respectively, in 2014.

Analysts said the U.S. Federal Reserve's tapering of quantitative easing will not emerge as a drag on the global economy, as such a reduction in stimulus moves implies improved fundamentals of the market.

"As the U.S. experienced a government shutdown in October, Washington will work out ways to settle budget and debt issues in a more amicable manner (next year)," said Lim Noh-joong, a researcher at I'M Investment & Securities Co.

South Korea's central bank, meanwhile, revised down its 2014 growth forecast for Asia's fourth-largest economy to 3.8 percent from its earlier estimate of 4 percent amid lingering economic uncertainty in October.

The downward revision by the Bank of Korea was made as the International Monetary Fund slashed its outlook for the global economy by 0.2 percentage point to 3.6 percent for next year. The BOK maintained its 2013 growth estimate for the local economy at 2.8 percent.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in its report last month said South Korea's economy is expected to grow 3.8 percent in 2014 on the back of the government's efforts to boost the economy and reduce household debts.