3rd Crisis Management Meeting of 2020
13th Ministerial Meeting to Respond to COVID-19 Outbreak
Government to Prepare for Potential Risks Incurred
due to COVID-19 Pandemic
Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki presided over the 3rd Crisis Management Meeting of 2020, which is also the 13th Ministerial Meeting to Respond to COVID-19 Outbreak. Participants delved into potential risks and discussed policies to avoid the risks, as well as ways to prepare for the post-pandemic economy, such as developing non-contact services. Support for tourism-dependent businesses, telecommunications businesses and film industries were also discussed. DPM Hong talked briefly about the current economic situation at the beginning of the meeting.
The following is a summary of DPM Hong’s keynote address.
Current economic situation
Industrial activities for February dropped, as well as the consumer sentiment index and business sentiment index. To help businesses and households suffering, the government will focus its support on the following three.
- Help small businesses and self-employed go through the time
- Help marginal firms
- Provide wage support to help businesses maintain their employees
March exports are expected to improve as there were more days in March and semiconductors were recovering, but average daily exports continued to fall. The government will work on the following to help exporters.
- Work to eliminate bottlenecks in business, such as increasing export financing
- Work for the global value chain not to weaken, such as through global cooperation
Topics of discussion
Discussion on potential risks and post-pandemic economy
Participants delved into potential risks incurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic and discussed responses to them. How to prepare for the post-pandemic economy was also discussed, such as developing non-contact services.
Support for tourism-dependent businesses, telecommunications businesses and film industries
- Expand the rent cut for airport tenants: From 25 percent to 50 percent for SMEs and small merchants, and a 20 percent new cut for large businesses for up to six months from March to August
- Give a 100 percent cut in communications costs to small businesses suffering after they were visited by the infected
- Provide 420 billion won worth of support to mobile phone retailers and communications facilities installation businesses
- Expand investment in 5G by 50 percent to 4 trillion won, which will be made in the first half
- Give a 100 percent cut in the film development levy, applied retroactively from February
- Provide support for the movies of which the release has been suspended or canceled due to the social distancing campaign, and provide job training allowance to those who used to work in the film industry
With regard to the emergency relief payment announced on March 30, the government is working on the income ceiling to receive the relief payment. We will unveil the details next week. The relief payment will be financed without issuing government debt through spending adjustments.
Please refer to the attached pdf
