Govt Forecasts 1.8% Low Growth This Year... "Strengthens Further Economy in Q1"

The government predicted that our economy will grow only 1.8% this year.

In its announcement of economic policy direction this year, the government forecast that the nation's economy will grow 1.8% this year due to increased uncertainties at home and abroad, down 0.4 percentage point from the previous forecast.

In particular, exports are expected to fall sharply from 8.2% last year to 1.5% this year, and construction investment will still be negative.

The number of employed people will only increase by 120,000 and private consumption will improve slightly to 1.8%.

Consumer price growth is forecast to be 1.8%.

As a result, the government has decided to boost the economy of people's livelihoods by raising fiscal execution to a record 67 percent in the first half of the year, and to strengthen the economy by mobilizing all available public sector resources worth 18 trillion won from the beginning of the year.

In order to accelerate the economic recovery if necessary, the government will also consider additional economic reinforcement measures, including supplementary budgeting.

Kim Beom-seok, the first vice minister of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, said he will re-examine the overall economic conditions in the first quarter and consider ways to strengthen the economy if necessary, taking into account the new U.S. government's policy, the flow of economic indicators and the economic situation of people's livelihoods.

In detail, the government decided to push for the recovery of the people's livelihood economy, management of external credibility, response to uncertainties in the trade environment, and strengthening industrial competitiveness.

We decided to make all-out efforts to maintain foreign credibility by stably managing the financial and foreign exchange markets, and to promote capital and technology inflow by strengthening foreign investment incentives.

In response to the cold wave in domestic demand, the government decided to distribute 1 million new non-metropolitan accommodation coupons to promote consumption by temporarily lowering the opening tax of automobiles by 30% in the first half of the year, and to revitalize domestic tourism.

In order to stabilize living prices and ease the burden of core living expenses, the government will invest 11.6 trillion won in subsidies for discounts on agricultural, livestock, and marine products and energy and agricultural food vouchers.

In order to expand the sales base for small business owners, it has decided to double the income deduction rate for this year's credit card amount used by small business stores with sales of less than 140 million won last year.