[앵커]
The government will hold a meeting of the Central Emergency Economy Headquarters presided over by Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki.
At this meeting, Korea’s economic trends related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the problem of disruption of vehicle parts due to the spread of Corona 19 in China will be dealt with.
Listen to all the remarks of Deputy Prime Minister Hong.
[홍남기 / 경제부총리]
From now on, the 56th Emergency Economy Central Countermeasures Headquarters meeting will begin. Yesterday, the employment trend for February was released. The number of employed increased by 1,037,000 from the same month of the previous year, the number of seasonally adjusted employed people increased by 417,000 compared to the previous month. The trend of improvement in the labor market is solid.
In particular, the number of employed people in their 30s and 40s increased by around 100,000 when considering the population decline, and the number of self-employed people with employees is increasing for three consecutive months, and full-time employees working 36 hours or more a week There is also a clear improvement in terms of employment, such as an increase of 973,000 people. It is expected that the employment improvement trend shown by the employment statistics for February will be recognized as it is and without bias. Meanwhile, the government will take policy measures by paying special attention to the seriousness of the employment of those who still suffer from great difficulties and the vulnerable, and the possibility of employment ripples due to the recent wave of uncertainty in the global economy.
As mentioned earlier, the biggest risk factor surrounding the Korean economy is the increase in uncertainty and volatility in the global economy due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the expansion of the international community’s range of sanctions against Russia. In March, some shocks are appearing in the real sector, such as a decrease in exports to Russia and Daewoo Krai and a significant increase in inflationary pressure due to the rise in international oil prices. In particular, as there are many cases of damage in the field, such as logistical setbacks, delays in payment, and non-recovery, centered on Russian and Ukrainian companies, and difficulties in remittance to international students and expatriates continue, at today’s meeting, we will comprehensively review the latest trends. We propose additional countermeasures, etc., and discuss intensively.
First, we will promptly support special guarantees as well as emergency financial support of KRW 2 trillion and SME management stabilization funds of KRW 200 billion, and expand the scale and target of this support if necessary. In addition, the export logistics voucher support includes up to 20 million won per company for delays in transportation costs when returning to Korea or operating to alternative destinations. We will also actively promote the formation of a dedicated team.
Second, the Financial Supervisory Service’s emergency financial grievance counseling center is operated at all times to provide frequent updates on tradable items and information related to the allowable range of remittance and collection. We will encourage them to do so and actively utilize the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ expedited overseas remittance system for diplomatic missions abroad.
Meanwhile, when concerns about energy supply and demand disruptions rise, we will immediately additionally secure supplies, such as the introduction of crude oil produced overseas by the Korea National Oil Corporation. In addition, in April, it was planned to apply 0% tariffs on neon, xenon, and krypton, which are highly dependent on imports from Russia and Ukraine, and increase the quota for barley, an alternative to corn feed, from 40,000 tons to 100,000 tons, but this time it was 250,000 tons. We would like to increase the amount. In addition, we will support supply-demand stabilization measures, such as an additional 69,000 tons of alternative bid for Ukrainian corn, and timely release of government stockpiles in case of a supply disruption in the future for pollock.
Lastly, in order to preemptively prepare for the possibility of liquidity instability in foreign currencies in Korea, we will maintain the deregulation on the forward exchange position until at least the second quarter, and we will announce whether the extension of the deregulation on the foreign currency LCR ratio will be extended again during this month. In the case of the exchange rate, which has been on an upward trend since the Ukraine crisis, we will further strengthen our efforts to stabilize the market if it is judged that the rate of increase is excessive in consideration of the fundamentals of the Korean economy and movements of other currencies.
In today’s meeting, three issues will be discussed: first, comprehensive inspection and response to economic trends related to the Ukraine crisis, second, the impact and inspection of the supply chain due to the spread of COVID-19 in China, and third, the direction of implementing temporary measures in the field of employment.
The first item is the same as mentioned above. The second agenda item is to check the supply chain impact of the spread of COVID-19 in China. Due to the lockdown measures in some regions of China, there may be difficulties in securing procurement for some items, such as parts produced and introduced in China, and in this case, it may affect domestic production. and measures to resolve corporate difficulties will be discussed today.
The third item is the direction of implementing temporary measures in the field of employment. We are actively supporting job stability by designating 15 industries, such as travel and tourism, which are suffering from job instability and worsening business conditions due to Corona, as special employment support industries. There is. Although the employment situation and sales volume of last year improved slightly compared to the previous year, whether to extend the designation period for these 14 designated businesses at the meeting today in consideration of the urgent demand from the field that support is needed until the business conditions are clearly improved? and whether or not to designate a new taxi transportation business, which is particularly difficult. We will announce the results this afternoon after deliberation by the Employment Policy Deliberation Committee, a legal deliberation body, including today’s discussion on the major economic plan. All remarks end here.
YTN Namgi Kwon ([email protected])
[저작권자(c) YTN & YTN plus 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]