President Moon to Hong Nam-ki: "Please fulfill your role until the end of your term" (Comprehensive)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] On the 9th, President Moon Jae-in asked Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Economy and Finance, to "fulfill his role until the end of his term."

On the same day, President Moon received a report from Deputy Prime Minister Hong on the 2022 Economic Policy Direction to be announced in late this month, and said, "Our economy has faced great difficulties due to COVID-19, but growth is rapidly recovering and distribution indicators are continuously improving, achieving the two goals of innovation and inclusion."

President Moon urged, "Please carry out your role steadily until the end of your term for economic success amid the COVID-19 situation," and ordered, "Form a separate team from now on to prepare and respond to measures for stabilizing prices during the Lunar New Year next year."

Deputy Prime Minister Hong said in the report, "Despite difficult conditions such as the ongoing COVID-19 situation and global supply chain disruptions, our economy showed the fastest recovery among major advanced countries this year," and forecasted that the recovery trend will continue next year with balanced increases in consumption, investment, and exports.

However, he added, "Since uncertainties exist such as the Omicron variant, supply chain disruptions, and normalization of monetary policies in major countries, we will do our best to stabilize the quarantine situation while maximizing the economic rebound and work with related ministries for a full-scale response to stabilize living costs."

Along with this, he announced that next year will be set as the first year of returning to normal life beyond overcoming the crisis, aiming for a leap to a leading economy, and that the 2022 economic direction will be prepared focusing on ▲leap to economic normalization ▲full recovery of the livelihood economy ▲preemptive and full-scale response to internal and external risks ▲focused reinforcement of next-generation growth engines ▲and challenge response to future tasks.