[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Dongwoo Lee] The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that the budget proposal and fund operation plan for next year, totaling KRW 11.0737 trillion, were finally approved at the National Assembly plenary session on the 24th. The budgets for projects such as semiconductors, future cars, advanced industries, nuclear power technology, and resource development have increased.
Compared to the original government proposal (KRW 10.7437 trillion), the budget was increased by KRW 330 billion. However, it decreased by 0.7% (KRW 83.4 billion) compared to this year’s main budget (KRW 11.1571 trillion).
The budget for fostering advanced and core industries will be KRW 5.6311 trillion, an increase of KRW 102.5 billion from this year. Investments will be made in technology development and infrastructure to respond to speed competition in the global market and to leap to a leading position. KRW 50 billion each will be invested in infrastructure facilities for the Yongin and Pyeongtaek semiconductor specialized complexes, and KRW 18.1 billion, up KRW 1.47 billion, will be allocated for the development of core technologies for eco-friendly ships.
For eco-friendly and autonomous vehicle technology development and business restructuring of parts companies, budgets include KRW 234.5 billion for automobile industry technology development, KRW 46.9 billion for autonomous driving technology innovation projects, and KRW 6.5 billion for overcoming employment crises in the automobile industry. KRW 41 billion will be invested in developing core carbon-neutral technologies to convert carbon emission processes in major industries such as steel, chemical, cement, semiconductor, and display into carbon-neutral processes.
The budget for strengthening energy security was set at KRW 4.349 trillion, down KRW 175.8 billion from this year. KRW 3.9 billion and KRW 33.7 billion were newly allocated for the development of innovative small modular reactors (i-SMR) and nuclear power plant decommissioning technologies, respectively. Budgets for overseas power export support projects and nuclear ecosystem support projects also increased by more than KRW 2 billion compared to this year. The budget for the Korea Mining and Resources Corporation’s investment to support domestic and overseas resource development was expanded by KRW 26 billion to KRW 37.2 billion. The budget for the petroleum stockpiling project was finalized at KRW 67.3 billion.
The budget for export and investment expansion was set at KRW 931 billion, KRW 11.4 billion less than this year.
Despite difficult conditions such as the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war, supply chain restructuring, and interest rate hikes in major countries, full support will be provided for trade risk response, expansion of export base, and overseas marketing to maintain this year’s export growth, which achieved the highest export performance ever. Included are the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KRW 302.9 billion), investment attraction infrastructure establishment (KRW 156.9 billion), trade infrastructure establishment and capacity building (KRW 2.5 billion), trade dispute response (KRW 22.9 billion), and support for the Busan Expo bid (KRW 25.4 billion).
Meanwhile, the climate fund managed and operated by the Ministry of Economy and Finance allocated KRW 683.2 billion for the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s projects in 2023, an increase of KRW 91.8 billion from this year. The fund will focus on supporting projects such as creating carbon-neutral industrial complex environments to reduce greenhouse gases, expanding the supply of eco-friendly hydrogen buses, and developing carbon-neutral technologies for business restructuring to build a carbon-neutral foundation.
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