FSC Vice Chairman Embarks on Two-Day Regional Tour: "National Growth Fund to Inject 60 Trillion Won into Local Areas Over the Next Five Years"

Kwon Daeyoung Holds Meeting in Daegu and North Gyeongsang
Fostering the Region as a Hub for Defense and Robotics Industries

The National Growth Fund will invest a total of 60 trillion won in regional high-tech industries over the next five years to foster the Daegu and North Gyeongsang area as a key hub for the defense industry and the robotics industry.

Kwon Daeyoung, Vice Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, is visiting Hanwha Systems, a defense company based in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, on the morning of the 26th and is hearing about industry trends from on-site officials. Provided by the Financial Services Commission

Kwon Daeyoung, Vice Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, visited the Daegu and North Gyeongsang area on a two-day, one-night schedule starting on the 26th, and held a meeting on the National Growth Fund and regional preferential finance. He said, "We need to invest in regions whose ecosystems have traditionally been centered on leading industries in the past and transform them into high-tech industrial ecosystems."

The National Growth Fund plans to allocate 60 trillion won, which is more than 40% of its total investment, to support regional high-tech industries over five years. Of this, 30 trillion won will be invested in the artificial intelligence sector, including AI Transformation (AX), and more than 3.6 trillion won will be injected into the defense industry.

The evaluation system for the National Growth Fund will also be improved. To ensure that fund capital flows smoothly to regional small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-sized companies that make up the high-tech industrial ecosystem, the government plans to conduct a comprehensive assessment that considers not only profitability but also the extent of each project's contribution to changes in the high-tech industrial ecosystem.

Vice Chairman Kwon said, "The Daegu and North Gyeongsang region has competitiveness in advanced manufacturing, including defense and robotics, as well as in hydrogen and energy, and we are fostering these as strategic high-tech industries. By utilizing the National Growth Fund, which will inject more than 60 trillion won into regional industries over five years, we hope to reduce business costs and support the commercialization of promising technologies."

The Korea Credit Guarantee Fund will provide a preferential guarantee program worth 200 billion won for small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-sized companies in the Daegu and North Gyeongsang region, where its headquarters is located. Based on contributions from Iambank, the fund will supply preferential products totaling 38 billion won that feature lower guarantee fees and higher guarantee ratios, while Daegu City will offer an interest subsidy of up to 1.7 percentage points on guaranteed loans to ease companies' cost burdens. In addition, through collaboration between the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund and Iambank, special guarantees totaling 144 billion won will be provided to regional base industries, regional mid-sized companies, and carbon-free energy companies.

Separately from the National Growth Fund, the government will provide 106 trillion won this year to regional areas through policy finance from four institutions: Korea Development Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, and Korea Technology Finance Corporation.

Vice Chairman Kwon stressed, "The National Growth Fund is not only a vehicle for simple investment execution, but also a total solution and execution-oriented finance that manages follow-up measures such as licensing and regulatory consultations after investment approval. We will inspect and manage the entire cycle from investment approval to actual fund execution and groundbreaking in order to accelerate the pace of investment deployment."