Gov"t Draws Up an Exports Drive Policy

The government plans to make every effort to increase exports by forming a special executive team as well as actively supporting exporters. Park Tae Young, minister for Industry and Energy, presented on September 8 a plan to increase exports to President Kim Dae Jung, who visited the Ministry of Industry and Energy (MIE) to confirm the current export situation.
According to the MIE, 1998 exports are forecasted to be no more than 132 billion dollars, a 3.1% decrease compared to last year. The decrease in exports comes for the first time in 40 years since 1958. Therefore, the government plans to push exports this year to at least more than the 136.2 billion dollars of last year.
To do so, the government will form a task force team for increasing exports, which will be composed of MIE officials and bankers from the Bank of Korea and Korea Development Bank, within this week.