The Democratic Party of Korea's Special Committee on Economic Response to the Middle East War said Sunday it would push for emergency passage of a supplementary budget to urgently channel funds to communities hit by the Middle East crisis.
Rep. Ahn Do-geol, the committee's secretary and Democratic Party lawmaker, told reporters after the committee's kickoff meeting at the National Assembly members' office building, "The National Assembly will do everything possible to pass the supplementary budget at record speed so that emergency fiscal support can be deployed to the field in April."
On the synthetic resin issue, Ahn said, "An in-depth, comprehensive field investigation led by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) has begun regarding the supply-demand situation. Stability measures for naphtha supply are already underway. I can say that similar stability measures are being reviewed."
Rep. Kim Nam-geun, also a committee member, said, "We have not been able to accurately grasp how much synthetic resin product is being supplied and how exports are being handled, so we decided to get an exact picture." He added, "Small and medium-sized enterprises making plastic components only hold five to six days' worth of raw materials, so we have established the principle that if problems arise, priority allocation will go to essential goods including healthcare and medical supplies."
Committee chair Rep. Yoo Dong-su stressed, "There are distribution disruption issues related to petrochemical products, with cases of hoarding emerging. We have decided to strongly push for a ban on hoarding." He added, "If the supply chain for petrochemical products is expanded through measures such as releasing strategic petroleum reserves, we are preparing a plan to give top priority allocation to production of daily necessities in healthcare, medical, and core industries."
The committee also called for improving the transaction structure between refiners and gas stations. Rep. Kim said, "Refiners should transparently disclose the prices at which they supply gas stations, and the post-settlement cycle should be shortened to one to two weeks to narrow the gap between incoming prices and settlement prices."
The ruling party and government agreed to strengthen liquidity support for small and medium-sized enterprises and to accelerate passage of the three foreign exchange market stabilization bills. They also decided to expand the scale of policy financing operated by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) by 4 trillion won, from 20.3 trillion won ($14.9 billion) to 24.3 trillion won ($17.9 billion). In addition, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) will collect written action plans from all government ministries detailing specific responses to the Middle East situation.
The Democratic Party plans to visit Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, on April 1 with floor leader Han Byung-do to inspect the naphtha supply situation. At the meeting, policy committee chair Han Jung-ae said in her opening remarks, "The government is mounting an all-out response with a sense of vigilance practically equivalent to wartime, with the presidential emergency economic review meeting chaired by the president serving as the top control tower for preemptive, government-wide measures."
