[2025 Budget Proposal] Ministry of Industry Allocates 11.501 Trillion Won... Increasing Support for Advanced Industries by 17.3%

3.089 Billion KRW for Advanced Industry Support, 41.2 Billion KRW Increase for Export and Foreign Investment Activation
5.06 Billion KRW Allocated for First Deep-Sea Gas Field Exploration Drilling in Donghae

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will increase the budget for supporting advanced industries by more than 17% next year, strengthening support for the development of advanced strategic industries such as semiconductors, secondary batteries, bio, and displays.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 28th that it has prepared the 2025 budget at 11.501 trillion KRW. This is an increase of 21.8 billion KRW (0.2%) compared to the 2024 budget of 11.4792 trillion KRW.

An official from the Ministry said, "In accordance with the principle of sound fiscal management, we thoroughly reviewed habitual support projects and projects with sluggish execution and carried out restructuring. The resources saved in this way were intensively invested in areas such as fostering advanced industries, revitalizing exports and foreign investment attraction, and strengthening economic security to spread economic vitality and improve the industrial structure in preparation for the future."

Accordingly, despite the slight increase in the 2025 budget (0.2%), the budget for supporting advanced industries increased by 308.9 billion KRW (17.3%), and the budget for revitalizing exports and foreign investment attraction increased by 41.2 billion KRW (4.5%).

Specifically, the Ministry expanded the budget for fostering and supporting advanced strategic industries such as semiconductors, secondary batteries, bio, and displays from 1.7805 trillion KRW in 2024 to 2.0894 trillion KRW in 2025, an increase of 308.9 billion KRW (17.3%).

In the case of semiconductors, to support large-scale investments by companies, new support projects include a low-interest loan program of 250 billion KRW and an ecosystem creation fund of 30 billion KRW. However, considering that these two projects are promoted through the Industrial Bank of Korea’s investment, the budget jurisdiction is allocated to the Financial Services Commission, not the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

To secure a super-gap technology in the semiconductor field, the Ministry will newly promote the advanced semiconductor packaging leading technology development project, which passed the preliminary feasibility study in June this year, and support fabless companies to jointly use chip verification equipment, which was essential for product commercialization but difficult for individual companies to acquire due to high equipment costs.

Regarding electric vehicles, which have raised public concern due to recent fire accidents, the Ministry will expand support for the advancement of battery management system technology to predict fires in advance and strengthen support for building infrastructure to evaluate the fire safety of secondary batteries for electric vehicles.

In bio, support will be expanded for securing core source technologies and digital transformation of development processes for manufacturing innovation. In displays, the Ministry will actively promote the development of inorganic light-emitting display technology, which is attracting attention as the next-generation technology after OLED. Additionally, the loan scale will be expanded so that companies in national advanced strategic industries can procure funds for technology development at low interest rates.

The budget for revitalizing exports and foreign investment attraction will increase from 925.8 billion KRW in 2024 to 967 billion KRW in 2025, an increase of 41.2 billion KRW (4.5%). First, through an 80 billion KRW contribution to the trade insurance fund, full support will be provided for companies to secure large overseas projects in defense and shipbuilding. When companies sign defense export contracts with foreign governments, guarantees and insurance will be provided, and special guarantee support will continue to make it easier to obtain refund guarantees (RG), essential for shipbuilding contracts, through commercial banks.

To further accelerate foreign investment attraction, which achieved a record high in 2023, the related budget has been expanded to 364.2 billion KRW. The budget for foreign investment attraction support, including significantly expanded cash support in 2024, has been additionally increased for next year.

Meanwhile, the budget for strengthening economic security, including domestic and overseas resource development, oil and critical mineral stockpiling, and core materials and components technology development, will be expanded from 1.8251 trillion KRW in 2024 to 1.8509 trillion KRW in 2025, an increase of 25.8 billion KRW (1.4%). In particular, through the oil field development investment project, which the government has supported since 2000 by investing a certain ratio in the Korea National Oil Corporation, the first exploratory drilling of the East Sea deep-sea gas field will be supported. This year, 50.6 billion KRW will be supported.

Taking advantage of the selection of the preferred negotiator for the Czech nuclear power plant project, the Ministry will significantly expand loan support budgets to help nuclear power-related companies grow so that the nuclear power industry can establish itself as a leading export industry, ensuring that nuclear power companies do not face difficulties in financing. Additionally, a nuclear power industry growth fund of 100 billion KRW will be newly created to encourage private-led investment in the nuclear power industry.

Through the expansion of international trade and cooperation, the Ministry will strengthen South Korea’s status as a global pivotal country and expand official development assistance (ODA) support befitting the national stature. The budget for global pivotal economy, trade, and ODA will increase from 152.1 billion KRW in 2024 to 195.1 billion KRW in 2025, an increase of 43 billion KRW (28.3%).

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s 2025 budget proposal will be submitted to the National Assembly on the 2nd of next month and finalized in December through deliberations by the standing committee and the budget and accounts committee, followed by a plenary session resolution.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.