<산업차관> "SVB Incident, Possibility of Increased Uncertainty... Strengthening Monitoring"

Jang Young-jin, the 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, stated on the 13th, "To achieve an early rebound in exports, it is crucial to make efforts to expand the scope by discovering and commercializing promising items even if the export scale is small."

At the 'Public-Private Joint Export Trend Review Meeting by Item' held at the Sejong Government Complex on the afternoon of the same day, Vice Minister Jang said, "Given the continued possibility of increased uncertainty due to the U.S. Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) incident, the government will work with export support agencies and the industry to maintain vigilance, establish a real-time monitoring system, and actively resolve difficulties faced by related export companies."

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held the emergency meeting amid concerns that the recent U.S. SVB incident could impact the financial market and real economy, in a situation where exports are declining and trade deficits are persisting due to the global economic downturn.

According to the Korea Customs Service, as of the 10th of this month, exports decreased by 16.2% compared to the same period last year, while imports increased by 2.7%, resulting in a trade deficit of 5 billion dollars, continuing for the 13th consecutive month. By industry, the slump in semiconductors, the largest export item, persists, and export prices for petroleum products, petrochemicals, and steel are also falling, indicating that overall export conditions remain difficult.

Furthermore, the reopening effect of China has yet to appear, and exports of steel products, computers, wireless communication devices, and other IT products affected by the global economy continue to be sluggish. Regarding the recent SVB incident, the Ministry stated that no direct impact on Korean exports has been observed so far, but they will closely monitor the situation and prepare response systems in anticipation of potential expansion of uncertainty in the global financial market.

The Ministry explained, "Together with major industry associations, KOTRA, the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, and the Korea International Trade Association, we will strengthen real-time monitoring through public-private cooperation and closely track overseas trends through overseas missions and KOTRA trade centers."

[Image source=Yonhap News]