"South Korea's 'Vital Growth Engine' Gwangju"
Next Year 7.6069 Trillion Won... 702.7 Billion Won Increase from Previous Year
Focus on 'Economic Vitality, Revitalizing the City, and Talent Development'
Gwangju Mayor Kang Ki-jung attended the 3rd plenary session of the 2nd regular meeting of the 329th session held at the city council main chamber on the morning of the 27th and delivered a policy speech regarding the submission of the 2025 Gwangju City general and special account revenue and expenditure budget proposal. Photo by Gwangju City
On the 27th, Gwangju Mayor Kang Gi-jung stated in the 2025 budget proposal policy speech, “Gwangju will become a city that opens the growth plate of vitality in the Republic of Korea,” and added, “Next year’s budget proposal contains Gwangju’s strategy to nurture people, revitalize the city, and inject vitality into the economy to achieve that goal.”
In his budget proposal policy speech at the Gwangju City Council plenary session, Mayor Kang said, “The era of quantitative growth measured by GRDP is over. In this era of great transformation, Gwangju must expand the scale of future leading industries such as AI (Artificial Intelligence) and future car industries, startup growth, and talent development, while also paying attention to the values Gwangju has upheld?sharing and solidarity, democracy, and culture,” emphasizing, “Because these values can become new opportunities in the care economy, social economy, and content industry.”
The total scale of the 2025 budget proposal submitted by the city to the city council is KRW 7.6069 trillion, an increase of 10.2% (KRW 702.7 billion) compared to the previous year’s main budget (KRW 6.9042 trillion). This recovers the reduction that was effectively made for the first time since last year’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) foreign exchange crisis. The general account is KRW 6.2641 trillion, and the special account is KRW 1.3428 trillion. Additionally, the issuance scale of general local bonds is KRW 292.1 billion, and the refinancing scale of high-interest local bonds is KRW 154.8 billion.
The next year’s budget focuses on ▲ finances that invigorate the regional economy ▲ finances for a revitalized city ▲ finances that nurture people.
Mayor Kang said, “In Gwangju, where the industrial base is weak, startups are an important channel for job creation,” and added, “We will provide customized support worth KRW 8 billion for startups and demonstrations so that regional innovative startup companies can grow into global companies.”
He also stated, “The two wings of Gwangju’s future industry are AI and mobility,” and explained, “To become a city where AI companies never stop coming, we will complete the AI cluster complex and establish an AI data center service platform. To secure leadership in the mobility industry, we will solidly build the foundation for the future mobility industry by creating a future car parts and materials specialized complex and establishing an EV battery demonstration base.”
Mayor Kang emphasized, “The key global challenge we must solve together today is responding to the climate crisis,” and said, “To transform into a ‘Daejabo city’ centered on public transportation, bicycles, and walking?a city convenient even without cars and where all citizens want to walk?we will promote this transition.”
He particularly stressed, “We will ensure that there is no saying that companies do not come to Gwangju because there are no talents,” and reiterated, “We will steadily build a dense talent development ladder covering from kindergartens to specialized educational institutions such as AI Gifted High School, Semiconductor Specialized University, and AI Graduate School.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Kang requested the cooperation and support of the council, saying, “In this era of great transformation, we have prepared the budget proposal as an opportunity strategy that can become a new opportunity for Gwangju and the growth plate of vitality for the Republic of Korea.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
