23rd Ministerial Meeting on Boosting the Economy
23rd Ministerial Meeting on the Economy of 2019
Government to Work on Export Boost Measures
Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki presided over the 23rd Ministerial Meeting on Boosting the Economy held on September 11, that is, the 23rd Ministerial Meeting on the Economy of this year. Plans to boost exports were main topics of discussion, along with ways to develop the content industry. Ministers also reviewed measures to promote public equity funds for real estate development, aimed at attracting private sector money into nonresidential construction. DPM Hong commented on the August job data at the beginning of his keynote address.
The following is a summary of Deputy Prime Minister Hong’s keynote address.
August job data
The economy added 452,000 jobs year-on-year in August, a 29-month high, with the employment rate hitting the record high of 67.0 percent and the unemployment rate dropping to 3.0 percent, the lowest in August since 1999.
Manufacturing jobs declined at a much slower rate year-on-year in August, losing 24,000, compared with 94,000 in the previous month and 143,000 in the first quarter. Services added more than 100,000 jobs for the second consecutive month in August, and temporary jobs which have been falling for 35 months since September 2016 took an upturn.
The job data improved in August, and the government will work for this positive trend to continue.
Plans to boost exports
The government has prepared strategies to support its export-boost measures announced so far, which contain the 3 different approaches to 3 different markets and the 3 plans for high tech supplies development, global value chain security and FTA expansion.
3 different approaches to 3 different markets
- Strategic markets in Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia: Help companies enter the regional manufacturing system and increase K-pop marketing
- New markets in Latin America, Middle East and Africa: Work on government-level cooperation, such as on large infrastructure project development
- Major markets in the US, China, Japan and EU: Work on the exporting of high-end consumer goods beyond intermediate goods
3 plans for high-tech supplies development, global value chain security and FTA expansion
- Invest 2.7 trillion won for the next 3 years from 2020 to 2022 in global R&D and overseas M&A to help the manufacturing of high-tech supplies
- Increase the trade insurance support by 3.7 trillion won in 2020 for global value chain security
- Work on FTA 2.0, a strategy for expanding FTAs
Develop the content industry
The government has been working on plans to encourage the content industry, whose market is rapidly expanding in line with ever-developing global platforms and virtual reality. The government will soon announce its plans for content industry development.
Promote real estate investment funds
The government will help attract private sector money into nonresidential construction by promoting public equity funds through such as introducing tax support and developing a return index on real estate investment.
Please refer to the attached pdf
