Choo Kyung-ho: "Next Year's Budget to be Executed from January 2... Over 65% to be Implemented in the First Half"

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho is presiding over the Emergency Economic Ministers' Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 14th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho stated, "Starting from January 2nd next year, when the fiscal year begins, we will promptly execute the budget to ensure that policy effects appear as soon as possible."

On the morning of the 29th, Deputy Prime Minister Choo held an emergency economic ministers' meeting at the Government Complex Sejong and said, "Since our economy is expected to show a 'low in the first half and high in the second half' trend next year, we will push for rapid execution of over 65%, the highest level ever, of next year's budget in the first half to actively respond to the economy."

He added, "Projects directly related to people's livelihoods such as jobs, welfare, and price stabilization will be designated as priority management targets and closely monitored," and "a detailed plan for rapid budget execution will be announced next week."

Deputy Prime Minister Choo explained, "The financial market, which had previously shown significant volatility, is regaining stability thanks to expectations of a slowdown in global tightening and government market stabilization measures. The corporate paper (CP) rate, a representative short-term money market indicator, has fallen for 13 consecutive days recently, and the certificate of deposit (CD) rate has dropped to the 3% range for the first time since mid-November."

He also noted, "The won-dollar exchange rate, which had risen to the mid-1400 won range, has fallen to the mid-to-late 1200 won range," but analyzed, "However, domestic and international conditions remain very difficult, and in the financial market, uncertainties remain high due to factors such as inflation and monetary tightening speed in major countries and economic slowdown trends, so we cannot let our guard down."

Meanwhile, the meeting also discussed plans for the development of digital platforms.

Deputy Prime Minister Choo said, "The spread of the platform industry is providing new growth opportunities for startups and small business owners, but recently social issues such as abuse of monopoly power and conflicts among stakeholders have also emerged. The government will promote platform policies considering the values of fairness and innovation."

He explained, "First, we will prepare standard contracts between platforms and tenant companies, expand consumer information provision, and enhance the transparency of search and recommendation services."

He emphasized, "To strengthen efforts to prevent monopoly damage by platform companies, we will pursue improvements such as supplementing the enforcement standards of the Fair Trade Act. In particular, we will strengthen monitoring and improve systems regarding abuse of monopoly power such as forced in-app payments in app markets and restrictions on the use of competing platforms."

Deputy Prime Minister Choo added, "To enhance the global competitiveness of platform companies, we will expand support for the introduction of AI (artificial intelligence) solutions and cloud services, as well as next-generation technology development such as metaverse and blockchain. We will also actively support the globalization of the platform ecosystem, including global co-foundings and joint overseas expansion of startups and tenant companies."

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