Prime Minister Jeong Launches Full-Scale Drive for a 'Strong-Waisted Hangari Economy'

"Raising the Economic Contribution of Small and Medium Enterprises to 30% by 2030"

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun is delivering opening remarks at the Government Policy Coordination Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 12th. Photo by Jin-hyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] The government plans to raise the economic contribution of the mid-tier enterprise group, consisting of strong small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and medium-sized enterprises, to 30% by 2030. To achieve this, it will implement four major strategies: promoting the globalization of specialized companies, focusing on nurturing next-generation innovative enterprises, expanding support infrastructure for companies surpassing 10 billion KRW in sales, and fostering regional and social anchor companies.

On the 12th, the government held a National Policy Issue Review and Coordination Meeting chaired by Prime Minister Jeong Seyeon at the Government Seoul Office, where it prepared the "Innovative Strong Small and Medium Enterprise Growth Strategy" containing these plans.

Prime Minister Jeong said, "It is necessary to transition to a flexible and agile economic structure centered on strong small and medium-sized enterprises," adding, "We plan to implement tailored policies through solidarity and cooperation so that our SMEs and medium-sized enterprises can overcome stagnation at each growth stage and grow into global innovative companies." This marks a full-scale push for the "jar-shaped economy with a strong middle," which has been emphasized so far.

The government decided to focus on nurturing global specialized companies that pioneer global markets and grow independently, moving beyond growth based on supplying large corporations.

To this end, it plans to comprehensively support innovative product development, track record acquisition, and export market development so that SMEs and medium-sized enterprises in promising global fields such as digital and green new deals can leap to world-class product manufacturing companies. Additionally, for companies with investment intentions and capacity, it will promote core technology research and development (R&D) cooperation with public research institutes and universities to boldly challenge the Korean New Deal.

Alongside this, promising companies with medium-scale innovation performance and potential will be discovered as next-generation innovative enterprise groups such as the Korean New Deal, and continuous growth will be pursued.

In particular, to actively respond to domestic and international environmental changes, the government plans to discover and nurture 12,000 promising companies in national core strategic sectors such as digital and green new deals, materials, parts, and equipment, and BIG3 by 2024. For innovative SMEs and medium-sized enterprises, it will apply special credit guarantee limits by the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (from 3 billion KRW to 15 billion KRW) and promote the expansion of local tax reductions for the establishment of research institutes by early-stage medium-sized enterprises, creating an environment conducive to activating innovative investment.

Furthermore, for companies experiencing early growth pains around the 10 billion KRW sales threshold, which is the initial growth gateway, the government will provide focused support in manpower, R&D, funding, and sales channels to help them overcome growth limits. It will also discover and support anchor companies that lead regional development and serve as social models through solidarity and cooperation, laying the foundation for their expansion.

An official from the Prime Minister's Office said, "This strategy was prepared as a follow-up measure to the Thursday Dialogue chaired by the Prime Minister on the theme of 'transition to a jar-shaped economy,'" adding, "In the future, a 'Global Strong Small and Medium Enterprise Growth Support Group' will be formed jointly by the Office for Government Policy Coordination and related ministries to continuously monitor and supplement the strategy."

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