"Top 10 Manufacturing Companies Achieve 66% of Facility Investment Targets by 3Q"

Due to increased economic uncertainties such as high interest rates and high inflation, the facility investment performance of the top 10 domestic manufacturing companies has been sluggish.

On the 30th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced at the 'Top 10 Manufacturing Major Companies Investment Meeting' held in Seoul with the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and key large company officials that facility investments by the top 10 manufacturing companies were executed at about 66% of the target set at the beginning of the year through the third quarter.

At the beginning of the year, the Ministry announced plans to support regulatory reforms and other measures to ensure facility investments of around 100 trillion won, similar to last year, in the 10 major industries (semiconductors, automobiles, displays, secondary batteries, petrochemicals, steel, bio, shipbuilding, machinery and robots, and textiles). Although the Ministry actively supported corporate facility investments through killer regulation reforms, designation of specialized complexes and national industrial complexes, and expansion of tax support, it diagnosed that worsening investment conditions due to global high interest rates and increased uncertainties have made it difficult for companies to fulfill their facility investment plans.

Participants from the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and major companies intensively requested regulatory relaxation, expansion of tax and financial support to revitalize facility investments. In particular, the Ministry reported that many industries commonly requested support for the extension of the soon-to-expire investment tax credit and expansion of policy financing.

The Ministry explained that it plans to establish an Industrial Investment Strategy Meeting chaired directly by the minister next year to check companies' investment difficulties quarterly and seek ways to revitalize investments. The government will monitor the 2024 facility investment plans of the top 10 manufacturing industries and form dedicated teams to closely support key investment projects by industry that are strategically important at the national level.

First Vice Minister Jang Young-jin said, "Investment is most important for our economic recovery and securing competitiveness in the global market," adding, "We will realize a dynamic economy where the private sector leads and the government supports through close communication between the public and private sectors."

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