7^th Ministerial Meeting on the Economy in 2020

5^th Ministerial Meeting on Boosting the Economy in 2020

Government to Help Exports Affected by Virus Outbreak

Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki called another Ministerial Meeting on the Economy this week, making it this year’s 7^th Meeting on the Economy and 6^th Meeting on Boosting the Economy, to discuss ways to support exports and local economies, both of which have been hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak. 

The following is a summary of Deputy Prime Minister Hong’s keynote address.

As a few cases of COVID-19 infection have been recently reported, of which the infection routes are not clear, the government will step up its disease control and prevention efforts.  However, we should not be too cautious and abstain from everyday activities.  The government will announce at the end of this month a package to help boost the economy affected by the disease outbreak, and I again ask the Korean people to consume and invest as they usually do.

Support exports

Exports showed a sign of improvement in January as average daily exports rose for the first time in 14 months[1] amid recovering global economies and semiconductor demand.  However, average daily exports dropped 3.2 percent for February 1-10 amid the COVID-19 outbreak.  The drop is due both to weak demand and shortages in manufacturing supplies. 

We will discuss today emergency support for exporters, including liquidity injection on outstanding receivables, fast-track customs clearance for manufacturing supplies imports and the holding of exhibitions as scheduled to help exporters with marketing.  Supply chain management and high value added trade will also be topics of discussion here.  We will announce this week the outcomes of discussion.

Support local economies

We will provide local governments with disease control and prevention support, as well as help them boost their economies.

- Allow for 100 billion won out of funds reserved for local governments, in addition to 36.7 billion won already provided

- Promote government procurement through private contracts for purchases such as masks and COVID-19 test kits

- Spend 60 percent of local government budgets, around 137 trillion won, in the first half

- Close government cafeterias once or twice a week to help local restaurant businesses