President Kim Announces Boost for the Economy

President Kim Dae Jung held a press conference regarding the current economic crisis on September 28 and announced that the government would focus on economic boosting policies to revitalize the faltering economy since the IMF bail-out.
President Kim said, 'If the government completes the ongoing restructuring rapidly, the Korean economy will recover from mid-next year and grow with plus rates afterwards.'
To do so, the government will take aggressive economic boosting measures including the increase of the money supply and the enlargement of governmental expenditures, the president commented.
The government intends to complete the ongoing financial restructuring by the end of September and from October to focus on solving the current credit crunch by which the money necessary for companies now is circulating only within financial institutions.
To do so, the government intends to acquire certain banks' outstanding debts as soon as possible and support the increase of capital for the banks which have already announced mergers.
President Kim also said, ' The government will invest heavily from its fiscal budget mainly in social overhead capital (SOC), information and communication technology businesses and businesses that will create jobs for the future.'
President Kim emphasized that the government would maintain a budget deficit policy for the time being by as much 5% of the GDP next year to boost the domestic economy. The government's proposed budget deficit is the first in 16 years. Regarding the disposition of Kia Motors and Hanbo Steel Co, president Kim announced, ' The government will make every effort to successfully complete Kia's third round of bidding and complete the sale of Hanbo's assets by November.'