218th Ministerial Meeting on International Economic Affairs
Government to Promote Online Exporting
Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki presided over the 218th Ministerial Meeting on International Economic Affairs held on September 14, where he discussed plans to promote online exporting via global online marketplaces and how the government will respond to countervailing duties. DPM Hong also talked about the government’s dollar- and euro-denominated bond sales successfully done on September 10, as well as follow-ups to the Korea-Uzbekistan Deputy Prime Ministers’ Meeting held in May and July.
The following is a summary of Deputy Prime Minister Hong’s keynote address:
FX Stabilization Bond sales
Despite the real economy suffering from shrinking demand amid strengthened social distancing and disease control, Korea’s financial and FX markets have maintained stability. In addition, the country successfully sold its Foreign Exchange Stabilization Fund Bonds worth US $1.45 billion, issued in dollars and euros, at lowest yields ever on September 10. The euro-denominated bonds, 5 year tranches worth 700 million euros, were sold at a negative yield of -0.059 percent, registering as the first non-euro sovereign bonds issued with a negative yield.
The FX bond issuance has set a new benchmark for the country’s corporate debt sales, and is expected to contribute to Korea’s corporate bond sales expanding to the Eurozone. The successful sales also shows high confidence of global investors in the Korean economy.
Export situation
Korea’s exports have been declining for the sixth consecutive month in August. The government understands hardships exporters have to deal with, and has decided to promote online exporting. The online exporting promotion measures will be of the kind announced in June to promote overseas construction, which led to US $2.7 billion worth of order increases. The government will continue to work on the overseas construction promotion measures to speed up financial support and help find best projects to participate in, taking into consideration our strengths and constraints, such as the impact on climate change.
Topics of discussion
1) Promote online exporting
SMEs’ online exporting increased 128.9 percent in the second quarter, while their total exports fell 13.5 percent. Thus, the government has decided to help SME exporters make good use of online marketplaces by doing the following.
- Find ways for SME exporters to use large corporations’ distribution channels overseas
- Help SME exporters sell their products via global online marketplaces
- Support the promotion of Brand K products, products made by Korea’s strong SMEs
- Use big data to analyze Korean SMEs’ strengths and help them find promising markets
2) Response to countervailing duties
Countervailing duties on Korean products expanded and new countervailing duties on currency depreciation and others added, the government will form a taskforce to prepare best responses, work closely with exporters and provide SMEs with consulting services.
3) Follow-ups to Korea-Uzbekistan Vice Prime Ministers’ Meeting
As a follow-up to Korea-Uzbekistan Vice Prime Ministers’ Meeting held in May and July, the government will
- Make a list for joint investment out of over 90 projects
- Increase Korea’s EDCF (Economic Development Cooperation Fund)
- Help Uzbekistan build a free economic zone
- Start Korea-Uzbekistan FTA negotiations this year
Please refer to the attached pdf