The Financial Services Commission met with six policy finance institutions to listen to the challenges faced by businesses in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions and discuss support measures.
On November 13, the Financial Services Commission held the second 'Policy Finance Collaboration' event at EXCO in Daegu, featuring six policy finance institutions: the Korea Development Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, Export-Import Bank of Korea, and Korea Technology Finance Corporation.
The Policy Finance Collaboration is a platform for policy finance institutions to engage directly with local industries, addressing financial challenges faced by businesses and discussing financial support measures. This event follows the first collaboration held in Daejeon in June.
More than 80 companies from the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions participated in this event. The policy finance institutions listened to the financial difficulties of local businesses and introduced key support programs, including the National Growth Fund and local preferential financing.
According to the announcement, as of October this year, four policy finance institutions—Korea Development Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, and Korea Technology Finance Corporation—have provided a total of 95.8 trillion won in policy finance to non-capital region areas. This amount represents 44.5% of the total supply, exceeding the annual target of 41.7%.
The government plans to gradually increase the share of policy finance supplied to local areas from 40% last year to 45% by 2028.
Support from the National Growth Fund for fostering local advanced industries will also be expanded. Starting next year, the fund's operational scale is set to increase to 40 trillion won annually, totaling over 200 trillion won over five years.
As of October this year, the National Growth Fund's support amounted to 22.7 trillion won, with 9 trillion won allocated to non-capital regions.
Specific support cases for local businesses were also disclosed. The Korea Development Bank provided 300 billion won in loans for vaccine research and development and production facility expansion projects in Gyeongbuk, and 220 billion won for establishing a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode material production facility in Daegu. The Industrial Bank of Korea lent 32.7 billion won to a manufacturer of advanced machinery in Daegu, while the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund provided 2.8 billion won in guarantees to a non-ferrous metal rolling manufacturer.
Moving forward, the Financial Services Commission and the six policy finance institutions plan to hold 'Policy Finance Collaboration' events sequentially in major cities across regions to enhance communication with local businesses.
In his opening remarks, An Chang-guk, a standing commissioner of the Financial Services Commission, emphasized, "The Daegu-Gyeongbuk region is a hub for future industries, concentrating capabilities in advanced sectors such as semiconductors, mobility, and robotics. It is not an exaggeration to say that the competitiveness of our advanced industries depends on the development of the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region's industries."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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