Details
3-Year Plan for Economic Innovation to Focus on Reform, Growth and Balance
Economic Policy Bureau > Economic Policy Division
2014-01-15 044-215-2711

3-YEAR PLAN FOR ECONOMIC INNOVATION DIRECTED TOWARDS REFORM, GROWTH AND BALANCE


The government announced directions for the 3-year Plan for Economic Innovation on January 15, 2014, which cover reforming the public sector, promoting a creative economy and overseas market exploration, boosting domestic demand, and fostering small businesses. 

1. Background

The economy has been growing at a very modest rate despite growth stimulating policies, making it difficult to avoid low growth potential and to achieve more than US $30,000 per capita income:  Rent seeking behavior has been rampant, the economy's once-high growth potential is being diminished, and economic growth has been highly dependent on exports.

3. Tasks

Tasks have not yet finalized, and some may be adjusted through meetings and discussions. 

Reform related tasks will cover public institutions' debt management and their careless business operation, public project restructuring, legalizing the shadow economy, entitlement benefit fraud, budget expenditure rearrangement, fiscal management efficiency, correcting unfair business practices, improving labor-management relations, building strong social capital and working class support. 

Creative economy related tasks will cover deregulation to encourage industrial convergence and industrial convergence promotion projects such as the Creative Economy Vitamin Project, which is aimed at convergence of agricultural industries or other traditional industries with ICT or other high technologies. 

The government will provide support for M&As, ventures, startups and new industries, while facilitating new global market exploration through FTAs, promoting overseas construction and plant construction, service exports and online exports.  The government will continue to invest to prepare for low birth and aging population, secure stable energy supply, further develop green house gas emission reduction technologies and build eco-friendly energy towns. 

Tasks related to boosting domestic demand will cover investment-stimulating deregulation, a cap on regulation, invigorating 5 promising service industries, such as healthcare, education, tourism, finance and SW, attracting foreign capital and growing regional economies. 

The government will boost consumption by restructuring housing markets, efficiently managing household debt, reducing education costs and supporting the elderly.  The 70 percent employment roadmap, designed to promote youth and woman employment, will continue, as well as various existing SME support, such as growth stage specific SME support, financial and tax support tailored to different enterprises, small business self sustenance support, SME exporter support and global leader SME support.

4. Implementation

The 3-year Plan for Economic Innovation will be mainly developed, implemented and monitored by the Ministerial Meeting on the Economy, which is presided over by the Deputy Prime Minister, and the meeting will put together a joint public-private 'Economic Innovation Taskforce.'


Ministerial-level meetings on regulatory reform and trade-investment promotion will be held. An inter-ministerial taskforce will be formed in order to construct a one-stop solution, from authorization to investment, for each of 5 promising service industries. A joint public-private commission composed of representatives from venture startups, SMEs, large corporations and the government, will be formed to identify, implement and monitor key projects and programs that will help transform the Korean economy into a 'creative economy.'

Implementation Schedule

- January 15: 3-year Plan for Economic Innovation Policy Directions announced.
- Mid-February: develop policies following submission of Annual Reports to the President by each ministry.
- End of February: finalize the 3-year Plan for Economic Innovation.

Please refer to the PDF for the full file.

distributed by