SMEs Appeal Over Middle East Crisis... Jeong Cheongrae: "Fastest Supplementary Budget in History"

Kim Kimoon: "SMEs Also Facing Shutdown Risk"


Proposals Include Expanding Export Vouchers and Logistics Cost Support

The Korea Federation of SMEs shared with the ruling party the difficulties that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are facing due to the Middle East crisis, such as increased logistics costs and supply chain instability, and requested that countermeasures be prepared.

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business held a "Small and Medium Enterprise Meeting for Responding to the Middle East Situation" with the Democratic Party of Korea on the 24th at the SME Federation headquarters in Yeouido. SME Federation

On the 24th, the Federation of SMEs held a 'SME Meeting to Respond to the Middle East Situation' with the Democratic Party of Korea.

Attending the meeting were Democratic Party leader Jeong Cheong-rae, Policy Committee Chairperson Han Jeong-ae, Chief Spokesperson Kang Jun-hyun, Chief of Staff to the party leader Kim Young-hwan, and Ando Geol, secretary of the Economic Response Task Force for the Middle East crisis. From the SME side, about 15 people attended, including Chairman Kim Kimoon, Senior Vice Chairman Bae Jo-ung, and representatives from sectors related to the Middle East crisis such as medical devices, food, plastics, aluminum, and logistics.

Democratic Party leader Jeong Cheong-rae stated, "Our country has an economy highly dependent on exports, so when a situation arises in the Middle East, it directly impacts our businesses, making it very unsettling for those running companies. In this unfortunate situation where we have no other choice but to watch President Trump, I believe we need to have sufficient countermeasures in place to minimize damage."

He continued, "The government and ruling party believe that timing is the most important factor in a situation like this, and we are planning an emergency supplementary budget of 25 trillion won, which is even more than I had anticipated. We will push the fastest supplementary budget in history so that we can provide immediate support to SMEs, for whom every day counts."

Kim Kimoon, Chairman of the Federation of SMEs, said, "Yesterday, the KOSPI fell by more than 6%, and the exchange rate surpassed 1,500 won—signs that the crisis is intensifying in the industrial field due to the Middle East situation. Export companies are facing increased uncertainty in transactions and rising logistics costs, and it is hard even to secure logistics services. Domestic SME manufacturers are experiencing sharp cost increases and difficulties in procuring raw and subsidiary materials, which is disrupting their operations."

Chairman Kim added, "With the suspension of naphtha imports and domestic petrochemical plants reducing their operating rates, SMEs are also facing the risk of shutdowns. I hope that the National Assembly will also work together to find countermeasures so that the difficulties experienced by SMEs and small business owners in the field can be resolved."

During the subsequent meeting, the SME sector proposed: ▲improvements to the government's export voucher program, ▲expansion of logistics cost support for exporting SMEs, ▲support for SME forwarders (freight transport intermediaries and agents), ▲improvements in the transaction structure of the petroleum distribution market, ▲responses to supply chain instability from the Middle East and support for affected SMEs, and ▲improvements in the management of Public Procurement Service stockpiles and alleviation of the burden on public procurement suppliers.

There were also suggestions that the Middle East-focused logistics voucher should be stabilized by allocating a preliminary budget to each company and guaranteeing settlement. As the logistics shock is spreading to exporters beyond the Middle East, there was a call to expand the scope of logistics cost support to all export routes when planning the supplementary budget. An opinion was also raised that a separate support system should be established for SME forwarders, who are left out of the current logistics voucher support. Additionally, there were calls to increase the weighting of actual crude oil import costs when determining supply prices at gas stations.

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