COVID-19 Economic Crisis, Financial Sector Proposes 'Agreement Ceremony'... President Moon: "Good Plan, Expedite as Much as Possible"

President Moon Jae-in is holding an economic stakeholders' roundtable meeting to discuss COVID-19 response at the Blue House on the 18th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] A proposal has been made for financial institutions to sign an agreement and provide financial support to overcome the emergency economic situation caused by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) crisis. President Moon Jae-in evaluated this as a "good plan" and emphasized the need for "speed" in implementing various additional measures promptly and timely without missing the opportunity.

Kang Min-seok, the Blue House spokesperson, held a briefing at the press center in the afternoon regarding the 'Roundtable Meeting with Major Economic Actors' and conveyed, "After listening to the discussions and suggestions of the participants, President Moon emphasized in his closing remarks that 'speed is the most important'." It is said that President Moon repeatedly emphasized the word 'speed' regarding the supplementary budget passed by the National Assembly the day before, stating, "The execution must proceed as quickly as possible."

In particular, consumption has been severely contracted due to the COVID-19 crisis, causing serious damage to self-employed and small business owners. President Moon pointed out, "The speed at which support measures are implemented on-site, such as at bank counters, needs to be as fast as possible," adding, "If it takes two or three months to prepare documents or complete procedures for emergency management stabilization loans, it will be of no use."

The roundtable meeting was attended by key economic figures including Park Yong-man, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, leaders of major economic organizations, representatives from small and medium enterprises, mid-sized companies, venture companies, and small business owners. Representing the labor sector, Kim Dong-myung, chairman of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, and Kim Myung-hwan, chairman of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, also sat at the same table. This is the first time in about 1 year and 2 months since January 25 last year that both major trade unions attended a Blue House meeting simultaneously. From the financial sector, Kim Tae-young, chairman of the Korea Federation of Banks, Lee Dong-geol, president of KDB Industrial Bank, and other heads of major policy banks were present.

The financial sector agreement ceremony was initiated by President Lee of KDB Industrial Bank. According to a key Blue House official, President Lee said regarding measures to overcome the economic crisis caused by COVID-19, "There must be an unprecedented scale of fund supply, and to achieve that, an unprecedented scale of loans must be issued timely, so a pan-financial sector agreement ceremony should be held to move jointly." However, specific measures such as repayment deferrals and loan maturity extensions were not discussed at this meeting.

Regarding the 'disaster basic income' demanded by political circles and local government heads, a key Blue House official said, "That topic did not come up (at the roundtable meeting)," adding, "Support for vulnerable groups should naturally be provided, but the means do not necessarily have to be disaster basic income."

From the government side, Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, and heads of economic-related ministries attended, while from the ruling party, Lee In-young, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Cho Jung-sik, chairman of the Policy Committee, were present. The meeting was originally scheduled to last about 90 minutes from 10:30 a.m., but was extended by 50 minutes and lasted a total of 2 hours and 20 minutes.

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