FSC Vice Chairman Kim So-young held the 3^rd consultative body meeting on policy finance support with the relevant government ministries and policy financial institutions on June 26. At the meeting, authorities checked the progress of funding supply to five major strategic sectors between January and May this year and discussed offering a preferential funding supply process for outstanding businesses in each industrial sector.

Between January and May 2023, policy financial institutions such as the Korea Development Bank, the Industrial Bank of Korea and the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund supplied a total of KRW46.3 trillion in funding support to the five major strategic industrial sectors, which amounted to about 50.5 percent of the total of KRW91 trillion targeted for the whole year.

At the meeting, authorities also discussed ways to select outstanding businesses in each industrial sector in order to more effectively provide targeted funding support for businesses that fit the direction of the government’s industrial policy strategies. In this regard, a comprehensive checklist has been prepared for selecting outstanding businesses and the checklist-qualified enterprises will be eligible to receive the benefit of a fast-tracked credit evaluation process. After having an inter-ministerial consultation process, authorities have already prepared a checklist on eleven industrial sectors for now and plan to review whether to expand the eligibility to additional industrial sectors in the future when drawing up a policy finance support plan for 2024.

Prior to today’s meeting, Vice Chairman Kim and First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Jang Youngjin held an agreement ceremony to launch a KRW300 billion worth of fund intended to make targeted investments in the domestic semiconductor ecosystem along with key chip makers and policy financial institutions. The newly created fund will invest in semiconductor materials, parts and equipment manufacturing businesses and fabless semiconductor manufacturers that are equipped with technological prowess. The fund will be operated as blind investment funds (KRW120 billion) for the materials, parts and equipment sector and project investment funds (KRW180 billion) for both the materials, parts and equipment sector and fabless semiconductor companies.