Thank you for joining us on Arirang News. I’m Kim Bo-kyoung.
Korea’s harvest celebration this year takes place in mid-September and ahead of the upcoming major traditional Chuseok holiday, financial authorities have come up with measures to bring down consumer prices by boosting supplies of popular food items at markets.
Our economics correspondent Lee Soo-jin starts us off.
The South Korean government is planning to implement a series of measures to boost livelihoods and spending during the upcoming Korean Thanksgiving holiday, Chuseok.
Measures including, providing tax incentives and increasing supply, were discussed during an economic ministerial meeting headed by Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok on Wednesday.
“Due to the heatwave, the prices of agricultural products and other essential items remain high, and the recovery of domestic consumption is relatively slow, making it difficult for households to feel that the economy is improving. In response, the government has developed a plan focusing on stabilizing prices and improving livelihoods.”
To help stabilize prices, the government will supply 170-thousand tons of the 20 most in-demand Chuseok items, including cabbages and apples, the largest ever amount for a Chuseok holiday.
It will also slash import tariffs for 10 types of fruit such as bananas and pineapples by extending tariff-rate quotas to the end of the year.
The quotas were due to expire at the end of next month.
In an effort to boost spending in traditional markets, the government is aiming to raise the income tax deduction rate for credit card usage from the current 40 percent to 80 percent in the second half of the year.
And to increase usage of “Onnuri” gift certificates, which can be used in traditional markets,.. the limit on the amount allowed to be purchased will be raised from the current 1-point-5 million won, or around 1-thousand-1-hundred U.S. dollars, to 1-thousand-5-hundred dollars.
This comes as consumer prices a key gauge of inflation in July rose 2-point-6 percent on-year, up from the 2-point-4 percent increase the previous month on the back of high fruit prices.
And in line with the Yoon administration’s continued focus on helping small businesses, the government plans to provide loans and other financial support amounting to a whopping 32 billion dollars to SMEs.
Along with these measures, the government plans to launch a pan-governmental task force to manage prices and bring them down to levels seen in 2021.
Lee Soo-jin, Arirang News.
source : https://www.arirang.com/news/view?id=275323
