Vice Minister Ki Jae: "Income and Distribution Improvement... Sustainability Uncertain"

18th Emergency Economic Vice-Ministerial Meeting
"Concerns Over Continued Difficulties in Our Economy for the Time Being"

Bang Gi-seon, the First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, stated on the 24th, "Although income and distribution indicators in the fourth quarter of last year improved compared to the previous year, considering the recent domestic and international conditions our economy is facing, the sustainability of this improvement is uncertain."

Vice Minister Bang made these remarks during his opening speech while presiding over the 18th Emergency Economic Vice Ministers' Meeting at the Government Seoul Office on the same day.

According to the '2022 Q4 Household Trends Survey' released by Statistics Korea on the 23rd, the quintile ratio based on disposable income decreased from 5.71 times in the fourth quarter of last year to 5.53 times, showing an improvement in distribution. However, employment growth has slowed due to the economic slowdown and base effects, and inflation remains at around 5%. Additionally, exports continue to decline due to the semiconductor industry's downturn. The Bank of Korea decided to keep the base interest rate unchanged, taking into account these downward economic concerns and inflation conditions comprehensively.

Vice Minister Bang emphasized, "The government will make every effort to manage the macroeconomy stably while strengthening policy efforts to overcome the current crisis, including stabilizing prices and employment and revitalizing exports and investment." He added, "At the 4th Export Strategy Meeting chaired by the President the previous day, the government expressed a strong determination to achieve positive export growth this year and decided that all ministries will unite their export support capabilities to achieve this goal."

During the meeting, the following topics were discussed: ▲ Current status and future plans for overseas infrastructure orders (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport) ▲ Measures to resolve mismatches in vacant jobs (Joint government ministries) ▲ Improvement plans for beef distribution structure (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs) ▲ Results of establishing a continuous illegal foreign exchange transaction monitoring system (Korea Customs Service).

Vice Minister Bang stated, "The government will concentrate all policy capabilities to secure key projects in promising regions such as the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America by forming a public-private joint team called One Team Korea." He added, "Measures to resolve mismatches in vacant jobs will be announced in March after further discussions, and additional job policies will be prepared and implemented in a timely manner."

Bang Gi-seon, 1st Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance.

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