Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy Koo Yoon-cheol announced today (July 8) that the economic growth strategy for the second half of the year, to be released next week, will include measures to respond to changes in macroeconomic conditions, rebound potential growth rates, and overcome polarization.
According to the Ministry of Finance and Economy, Deputy Prime Minister Koo stated this during the Emergency Economic Headquarters Meeting and the Ministerial Meeting on Strengthening Economic and Industrial Competitiveness, which he presided over at the Government Complex Seoul, adding that the government would set the goal of "completing the first year of the Economic Great Leap Forward."
He attributed historical significance to the three mega-projects recently announced by the government, suggesting they could carry greater weight than the construction of the Gyeongbu Expressway or the IT revolution, and emphasized, "We will promote them rapidly as a total national effort to lead global super-gap competition."
Deputy Prime Minister Koo added, "Now that the site for the Honam semiconductor cluster has been selected, we will proceed at full speed by simultaneously conducting follow-up administrative procedures such as licensing."
Assessing the current economic situation, he said, "Amidst persistent volatility in foreign exchange and financial markets, the burden on the public livelihood economy due to the aftermath of the Middle East war, such as inflationary pressure and slowing employment, continues," and stated that he would focus on stabilizing public livelihoods and structural reform.
Deputy Prime Minister Koo expressed his intention to promote measures for the steel industry, which is facing structural difficulties due to global oversupply and the spread of protectionism, to secure new demand and enhance competitiveness.
First, to increase demand, the government will support the expanded use of high-quality materials considering safety and industrial characteristics, as well as linkages between demand and supply companies.
In addition, the government will block the bypass inflow of unfair imported products by making it mandatory to submit information on the place of crude steel production for imported steel materials, and will invest approximately 500 billion won in hydrogen reduction steelmaking and the development of 10 major special steel technologies.
Support for process improvement and safety investment using artificial intelligence (AI) will also be strengthened.
Furthermore, to prevent the slump in the steel industry from spreading into a regional economic crisis, the government will actively support regions preemptively responding to industrial and employment crises, such as Pohang, Gwangyang, Dangjin, and Dong-gu in Incheon, and will decide on additional targets for crisis response project support within this month.
During the meeting, measures to support the resurgence of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were announced, including the establishment of an AI-based Early Warning System (EWS) by next year to notify all SMEs of risk signs in advance, and a package of support for technology, human resources, finance, and sales channels to help companies in growth crises transition to promising businesses.
(Photo: Yonhap News)