Vice Minister of Economy and Finance: "Innovation Growth and Venture Investment Concerned to Shrink Due to COVID-19... Must Use as an Opportunity for Rebound"

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] Kim Yong-beom, the 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, expressed concerns about the contraction of innovation growth and venture investment due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), and emphasized the need to seek new opportunities focusing on areas receiving international attention such as K-quarantine.

On the morning of the 29th, Vice Minister Kim held the '12th Innovation Growth Strategy Review Meeting and Policy Review Meeting' at the Government Seoul Office and said, "As the impact of COVID-19 is quantified, we are facing unimaginable numbers."

He mentioned the possibility of contraction in innovation growth such as the sharing economy and new investments in startups. Vice Minister Kim said, "As a result of reviewing the innovation growth policies being promoted this year, 165 innovation growth policy tasks reflected in the supplementary innovation growth plan prepared last December and the 2020 economic policy direction are generally proceeding normally except for some delays," adding, "However, COVID-19 is causing a shock that is restructuring the global economic and social structure, significantly impacting the innovation growth environment." In particular, he explained, "Global companies in the sharing economy sector are recording large deficits and are negatively affected by COVID-19," and "There is great concern that new startup investments may shrink as the scale of domestic venture investment, which had been steadily increasing, decreased by 4.2% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year."

He further stressed the need to utilize the COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity through the Korean New Deal and other initiatives. Vice Minister Kim said, "As international interest in K-quarantine increases, venture investment in the bio sector is greatly increasing," emphasizing, "It is an important time to reignite the venture boom that was difficult to revive and use it as an opportunity to advance our innovation industries and technology sectors that are attracting global attention."

In his opening remarks, Vice Minister Kim also expressed concerns about industrial activity indicators such as consumption and production announced earlier. He evaluated, "The industrial activity trend in April shows the severity of the crisis we are facing," and "The crisis that started in the service sector is now spreading to manufacturing." He added, "The coincident index and leading index have both declined for three consecutive months, indicating that the current and future economic trends are not favorable," and "Although it is clearly a difficult time, the government will make every effort to overcome the crisis."

Additionally, regarding financial support for small business owners, for which the second application was conducted last week, Vice Minister Kim stated, "We will promptly proceed with the loan procedures and strive for smoother loans by expanding loan windows to local banks wishing to participate through swift consultations." Regarding support for industries affected by the COVID-19 situation, he explained, "In addition to thorough implementation of existing measures, we will review industry-specific conditions and field difficulties and announce additional support measures in a timely manner."

Regarding the economic policy direction for the second half of the year and the 3rd supplementary budget (supplementary budget), which are scheduled to be announced early next month, he only mentioned, "They will include the policy will to turn the crisis into an opportunity through early overcoming of COVID-19 and establishment of a leading economic foundation."

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