Mid-sized Enterprises Meet Ruling Party Leader to Propose Legal and Institutional Improvements

'Meeting with Mid-sized Enterprises Invited by Kim Ki-hyun, Leader of the People Power Party' Held

The Korea Federation of Medium-Sized Enterprises announced on the 22nd that it held the 'Meeting with Kim Ki-hyun, Leader of the People Power Party, Invited by the Medium-Sized Enterprise Sector' and conveyed key policy tasks for medium-sized enterprises in major sectors. Choi Jin-sik, Chairman of the Federation, requested, "Please take greater interest in strengthening industrial competitiveness, the material foundation of the national economy in the long term, and strive to create a reasonable legal and institutional environment that can revitalize medium-sized enterprises by closely communicating not only with the opposition party but also with various sectors."

The Federation pointed out the issue of differential application of tax credits for medium-sized enterprises such as research and development (R&D) and facility investment, emphasizing, "It is necessary to pay attention to the analysis by the Korean Fiscal Association that if the general R&D and human resource development tax credit rate for medium-sized enterprises is increased by 5%, it will induce production worth 8.8481 trillion KRW annually, create 138,187 jobs, and generate employment for 99,322 people."

On the 22nd, Choi Jin-sik, Chairman of the Korea Federation of Medium-sized Enterprises, is speaking at the 'Meeting with Medium-sized Enterprises Invited by Kim Ki-hyun, Leader of the People Power Party.'

Furthermore, the Federation stated, "In our own survey conducted in April, despite concerns about the global economic slowdown, 89.5% of medium-sized enterprises forecast that their investment scale this year will be maintained at last year's level or expanded," and argued, "To support the innovative will of medium-sized enterprises that continuously expand R&D and facility investments despite worsening domestic and international economic conditions, the differential based on convenient scale should be abolished, and the scope of R&D and integrated investment tax credits should be expanded to all medium-sized enterprises, at least those with sales under 2 trillion KRW."

In addition, the medium-sized enterprise sector proposed lowering the rate of the Electricity Industry Infrastructure Fund as a solution to prevent the weakening of corporate competitiveness related to the increase in electricity rates, which has been added as a crisis factor to external adversities such as supply chain disruption and raw material price increases caused by the Ukraine war. A Federation official said, "The sharp increase in electricity rates could weaken the global competitiveness of medium-sized enterprises positioned in major industries such as semiconductors, steel, petrochemicals, and cement, where electricity costs account for a large portion of production costs," and emphasized, "Many companies accept the inevitability of electricity rate hikes due to rising overseas energy prices and voluntarily endure the situation, so the rate of the Electricity Industry Infrastructure Fund, which accounts for 3.7% of electricity rates, should be boldly reduced to cushion the damage to companies."

Chairman Choi said, "The strength of medium-sized enterprises lies in the synergy created by the first-generation medium-sized entrepreneurs who are active on the front lines of management with the entrepreneurial spirit from the time of founding, as well as the creativity and challenges of second- and third-generation managers familiar with advanced technologies such as ICT and bio," adding, "By improving the management environment themselves, medium-sized enterprises can continue to write a proud history of growth to pass on to future generations. We will do our best to expand communication and deliberation platforms involving more businesspeople together with the government and the National Assembly of both ruling and opposition parties."

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