The government has unveiled its economic framework for this year with priority placed on seeking stability amid a host of uncertainties at home and abroad.
Our correspondent Lee Soo-jin reports.
“Stabilizing the economy amid external and internal uncertainties.”
This is the overarching theme of the government’s economic policy plans for this year.
With South Korea currently going through a turbulent political period domestically, it comes as no surprise that the government is anticipating that people’s livelihoods will continue facing difficulties, as downside risks to the economy grow.
And external risks that the government is monitoring include the implementation of tariffs that may target South Korea’s exports with the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
While domestic demand, which the state-run Korea Development Bank think tank has assessed as “weak” for more than a year, is expected to see improvement, export growth is expected to slow.
With this assessment, the government is projecting the economy to grow only 1-point-8 percent in 2025, compared to 2-point-1 percent growth in 2024.
As such, its policies are focused on four key areas: revitalizing people’s livelihoods, managing external credibility, responding to trade uncertainties, and strengthening industrial competitiveness.
“The growth rate is expected to decline to around 1-point-8 percent, exacerbating challenges for livelihoods and raising concerns about external creditworthiness. As such, the government has drafted the 2025 economic policy plan with the goal of stabilizing the economy.”
To improve livelihoods, the government will allocate 70 percent, of 85 trillion won,.. or nearly 60 billion U.S. dollars and the largest ever amount allocated in the first half of the year, to fund various projects that include helping young adults who are seeking employment and lowering grocery prices.
The government is also focusing on maintaining external credibility by providing more than 130 million dollars in cash subsidies in the first half of the year to encourage foreign investment.
As for measures to combat trade uncertainties, the government is planning to hold meetings with both the economic and foreign affairs ministers and will provide various tax benefits for SMEs.
The government will also support the enactment of the “Special Semiconductor Act” and set up a “National AI Computing Center” as part of
its efforts to make Korea one of the top three leading countries in the global AI industry,.. in order to maintain industrial competitiveness.
Lee Soo-jin, Arirang News.
Source : Arirang TV, https://www.arirang.com/news/view?id=279555
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