[Q&A] Kim Yong-beom, Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance: "The necessity of remote medical care has increased due to COVID-19... The discussion perspective has changed"

Kim Yong-beom, Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance, is announcing the main points at the briefing on the "1st Emergency Economic Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters Meeting Results" held on the 29th at the Government Seoul Office in Gwanghwamun, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] Kim Yong-beom, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, stated on the 29th, "Although there is still a significant gap regarding telemedicine, it seems that the dimension of this discussion has changed compared to the past after the COVID-19 pandemic."

At the first regular briefing of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters held at the Government Seoul Office, Vice Minister Kim said, "Due to COVID-19, many people have come to feel the necessity of telemedicine even more acutely."

He added, "Many people with new perspectives and energy have entered the National Assembly," and emphasized, "In the 21st National Assembly, I expect discussions to be much more practical and faster than before."

The following are the main Q&A highlights between Vice Minister Kim and the press corps.

▲What is the outlook for the Korean economy after the second quarter of this year?

= First, I will briefly talk about the leading indicators. Regarding the subway, the decrease was 42.7% in the first week of March, but by the third week of April, the decrease narrowed to 34.4%. Railway usage was at 33.3% in the first week of March but rose to 54.6% by the third week of April. Looking at overall consumption, it was at -10.3% in the first week of March, but by the third week of April, it improved significantly to -3.5%, showing a considerable normalization.

Looking at the industrial activity trends in March, there are both positive and somewhat concerning aspects. Manufacturing production is quite good, but the service sector remains in the negative, continuing to decline from the previous month. However, service and consumption sectors are expected to improve somewhat from now on.

Since advanced countries are also expected to hit their lowest point in the second quarter, we will be affected through export channels and others, so we need to look at the April figures carefully.

▲You mentioned focusing on deregulation of non-face-to-face industries such as telemedicine and education. What are the future plans for this?

= Today, we focused on small but highly demanded regulations in the field, which have been prioritized among ten major sectors. At today's Economic Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister and ministers, especially the Deputy Prime Minister, requested that more significant tasks be selected going forward, including those that may cause debate or require ministerial-level review, and that these major topics be brought up as agenda items for the Economic Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting. This is ultimately related to post-COVID discussions. We will set previously difficult-to-handle regulations as formal agenda items during this opportunity, discuss them thoroughly, and aim to achieve results.

▲What were the results of today's focused discussion on the Korean New Deal?

= Today was at the basic idea stage, with the Ministry of Economy and Finance presenting about two pages. Full discussions will begin next week. Today, within the scope of the President's remarks at the Cabinet meeting, each ministry discussed how to prepare for the New Deal and how to conduct thorough discussions at the next meeting. Even if discussions occur at the next Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting, the direction will likely not be finalized immediately.

There was much discussion today about how to define the scope of the New Deal. Some discussion took place on several major categories such as Digital, Bio, and Platform New Deals. There were also proposals to discuss Green New Deal related to climate change and Soft New Deal concerning culture and similar areas.

Additionally, there were many diverse and excellent suggestions on how the New Deal could create synergy with jobs. Based on today's proposals, the Ministry of Economy and Finance will draft an outline and conduct in-depth discussions on the direction next week, with several more rounds of discussion to follow. It seems more discussions are needed rather than immediately deciding the direction and tasks in the coming weeks.

▲When can small business owners expect to actually receive loans from the second round of financial support?

= After receiving applications, commercial banks will start screening from May 25th. The speed at which many cases can be processed daily will determine the timing. Screening will begin immediately on the 25th, and decisions and loans will be made promptly. Depending on the application timing, a significant number of loans are expected to be executed daily without delay.

▲What is the scale of the third supplementary budget and government bond issuance?

= The amount of government bonds will depend on the size of the second supplementary budget to be finalized today and how much expenditure restructuring will be done. This will determine how many trillion won in government bonds will be issued for the second supplementary budget. Most of the 1 trillion won employment measures announced in the fifth supplementary budget will be reflected in the third supplementary budget. Additionally, some parts of the financial support program requiring capital injection will also be included in the third supplementary budget, so a considerable scale of expenditure is anticipated. The third supplementary budget will require revenue adjustments. Since the outlook for tax revenue and income has changed this year, revenue forecasts and adjustments will be made, which will affect the scale of additional government bond issuance. Overall, since the supply and demand conditions for government bonds and guaranteed bonds have changed, we will prepare demand stimulus measures accordingly and explain them to the National Assembly.

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