Chungnam Launches Task Force to Address Economic Contraction Due to Novel Coronavirus

[Asia Economy (Naepo) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Chungnam Province is organizing and operating a ‘Regional Economic Situation Response Task Force (TF).’ The TF will work to monitor the trends of the novel coronavirus infection (Wuhan pneumonia) and support local export companies and small business owners.

According to the province on the 11th, the TF will be operated with the head of the provincial economic office leading, and nine teams participating: General Affairs Team, Employment and Labor Team, Small Business and Enterprise Support Team, Investment Response Team, Export and Trade Team, Industrial Measures Team, Tourism Industry Measures Team, and others.

The TF will identify government and industry trends in response to the spread of the novel coronavirus, resolve difficulties faced by export companies dealing with China, and support emergency management stabilization funds for small business owners suffering from business difficulties due to reduced consumption, thereby discovering and implementing field policies.

In addition, the TF will maintain a cooperative system with related economic organizations in the province such as Chungnam Research Institute, Chungnam Credit Guarantee Foundation, Chungnam Technopark, and Chungnam Economic Promotion Agency to derive measures for stabilizing the regional economy and revitalizing jobs. It also plans to expand social safety net support through operating a consultation center for difficulties faced by small and medium enterprises and small business owners in the province and supporting social insurance premiums for small business owners.

In particular, the province plans to convert the TF into an Economic Crisis Countermeasures Headquarters if the regional economic contraction situation worsens. At that time, the Economic Crisis Countermeasures Headquarters will be led by the Governor of Chungnam Province as the head.

Kim Seok-pil, head of the provincial economic office, said, “To block negative factors in the regional economy that heavily depends on imports and exports with China, we will establish a cooperative system among export-related organizations,” and added, “We will also strengthen domestic and foreign investment attraction to revitalize the regional economy.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.