National Growth Fund Invests 5.2 Trillion Won in Honam, Tops Non-Metropolitan Regions... "Infrastructure Impact, Not Regional Bias"

Regional Approvals Account for 44.7% with 8 Trillion Won

5.17 Trillion Won Allocated to Honam Raises Concerns of Concentration

"Excluding Infrastructure, Honam Receives Less than Chungcheong and Yeongnam"

The government has provided more than 5 trillion won this year to the Honam region through the National Growth Fund. This is the largest amount among all regions except the Seoul metropolitan area. Of the total approved amount from the National Growth Fund, the proportion allocated to regional support reached 45%.

The Financial Services Commission announced on September 17 that the National Growth Fund had approved a total of 35 cases amounting to 18 trillion won in funding from January to September of this year. Of these, 24 cases, totaling 8.05 trillion won, were allocated to regional support, accounting for 44.7% of the total, exceeding the policy target of 40%.

By region, the approved amount for the Seoul metropolitan area was 9.98 trillion won, representing 55.4% of the total. Excluding the Seoul metropolitan area, Honam received the highest amount at 5.17 trillion won (28.7%). This was followed by Yeongnam with 1.43 trillion won (7.9%), Chungcheong with 1.36 trillion won (7.5%), and Gangwon·Jeju at 80 billion won (0.4%). More than 60% of all regional support funds were concentrated in Honam.

In response to concerns about the concentration in Honam, the Financial Services Commission explained, “Large-scale energy infrastructure projects were approved in the Honam region due to favorable wind conditions and other location attributes. It should be considered that energy infrastructure projects involve business entities from all over the country, and the resulting impact is felt nationwide by a wide variety of companies, not confined to a single region.”

According to the Financial Services Commission, of the 5.17 trillion won approved for Honam, 4.56 trillion won was allocated to infrastructure projects. Excluding infrastructure investment, the amount of support to Honam was 610 billion won, which is less than that of Chungcheong (1.36 trillion won) and Yeongnam (1.16 trillion won).

The Financial Services Commission noted that, in the cases of Chungcheong and Yeongnam, there are distinct characteristics of relatively greater support for individual companies, such as those in the semiconductor and secondary battery industries.

Furthermore, it was emphasized that the National Growth Fund is a policy program aimed at enhancing advanced industry competitiveness and establishing a robust industrial ecosystem, and that it does not operate with separate support targets by region.

Meanwhile, the Financial Services Commission also plans to strengthen risk management and post-management systems in response to the expansion of the National Growth Fund. From October, the 'Risk Management Committee', which conducts preliminary reviews of financial, reputational, governance, legal risks, and community acceptance, and the 'Post-Management Committee', which examines fund execution and recovery after approval, will begin full-scale operation.

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