Koo Yoonchul: "The Key to the Global All-Out Competition Lies in the Provinces...Regional Growth Engines to Be Announced Soon"

Government Holds Emergency Economic Headquarters and Economic Ministers' Meeting
Full-Speed Drive for Three Major Mega Projects

Koo Yoonchul, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, is delivering opening remarks at the Emergency Economic Headquarters meeting and Economic Ministers’ Meeting held on the 3rd at the Central Building of the Government Complex Sejong. Ministry of Economy and Finance

The government is set to announce and provide full support for region-specific growth engines in order to drive growth across different regions.

On July 3, Koo Yoonchul, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, stated, "The government will select growth engines tailored to the characteristics and potential of the five core and three specialized regions, and provide comprehensive support through a seven-part package encompassing fiscal, financial, tax, regulatory, and talent-related measures, among others."

At the Emergency Economic Headquarters meeting and Economic Ministers’ Meeting held that morning at the Government Complex Sejong, Deputy Prime Minister Koo remarked, "The key to advancing in the global all-out competition does not lie in the already saturated Seoul metropolitan area, but rather in the provinces."

Based on the discussions at this meeting, the government plans to select the optimal growth engines, taking into account local government needs and corporate feedback, and will announce them in the near future.

Deputy Prime Minister Koo also added, "To build an ultra-competitive Korea, we will push forward at full speed with three mega-projects: semiconductors, data centers, and physical and artificial intelligence (AI)."

He highlighted that export volume in the first half of the year rose by 48.4% compared to the same period last year, reaching an all-time high, and assessed, "Our economy is successfully overcoming the waves caused by the Middle East war, leveraging unprecedented export performance while managing internal and external risk factors in a stable manner."

However, regarding the recent surge in exchange rates and persistent high inflation, he said, "Volatility in the foreign exchange and financial markets continues, and consumer prices rose by 3.2% in June, so economic hardship for the public persists. We have been implementing support measures for livelihoods at a swift pace to address inflationary pressures, employment slowdowns, exchange rate and interest rate volatility, and will continue to do so even more rapidly going forward."

The meeting's agenda included responses to the Middle East war, emergency support measures for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) facing management difficulties due to high exchange rates, the third Basic Plan for Personal Information Protection, and directions for the 2026 Korea Grand Festival.

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