Hyeong-il Lee “Establishes a new overseas construction fund worth 3 trillion won to support package orders”

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy Lee Hyung-il announced on the 12th that he would create a new overseas construction strategic fund worth 3 trillion won to support companies receiving overseas orders.

Deputy Prime Minister Lee mentioned this at the Foreign Economy Ministers' Meeting presided over at the Seoul Government Complex this morning, saying, "We will expand package-type orders (development, construction, maintenance) to revitalize the local economy related to overseas expansion projects."

Considering the trend of the global infrastructure market changing to focus on high value-added investment and development projects, the government plans to strengthen the basis for Korean companies' participation in overseas business by converting the support system, which was centered on individual projects, into a joint investment platform by country and region, including cooperation between governments.

Deputy Prime Minister Lee said, "We will establish a foundation for economic and supply chain cooperation with major countries through high-level summit diplomacy, and visualize the results through periodic inspections of summit diplomacy."

The government is also promoting key cooperation projects that will support expansion of exports and orders and stable entry into the local market, such as creating an industrial complex exclusively for Korean companies in India to connect the results of summit diplomacy with concrete projects.

Economic cooperation channels with major countries, such as the Korea-India Finance Ministers' Meeting scheduled to be held next month, will also be utilized to support project promotion.

Deputy Prime Minister Lee explained that the Korean economy is showing stability despite external uncertainty, with the current account surplus being calculated as $46.11 billion as of August, continuing the surplus for 40 consecutive months.

However, he said, "As the global high interest rate situation continues, financial risks in major countries and the possibility of adjustment in artificial intelligence (AI) investment are potential external risks that our economy must pay attention to," and added, "The government will preemptively inspect real-financial risks and continue efforts to stabilize the market."

Deputy Prime Minister Lee diagnosed that risks arising from changes in the trade order, such as trade blocs, trade issues with the United States, and the strengthening of industrial protection measures in the European Union (EU), are likely to affect the Korean economy, and announced, "We will closely monitor trade issues with major countries and strengthen outreach to manage them stably."

He expressed his intention to make efforts to achieve practical results in fields such as culture and finance in accordance with the principle of mutually beneficial market opening in the ongoing Korea-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA) service and investment follow-up negotiations and to improve the conditions for Korean companies' overseas expansion.