The Presidential Office has decided to continue operating its emergency response system to address economic shocks from the prolonged Middle East conflict.
The Presidential Office held an emergency economic review meeting on the 12th and announced that "the government has decided to strictly maintain the emergency response system until there is a clear end-of-war declaration."
Jeon Eun-su, spokesperson for the Presidential Office, explained at a Chunchugwan briefing that day, "This afternoon at 2 p.m., vice ministers from related ministries gathered under the policy chief's supervision to review emergency economic issues related to the Middle East war and discuss future response measures."
"A ceasefire agreement was reached on April 8, 40 days into the Middle East war, but the agreement itself fell through from the first day," Jeon said. "However, the possibility of follow-up negotiations cannot be ruled out."
"Today's meeting participants agreed that uncertainty surrounding our economy remains very high when considering the results of the first round of negotiations and recent developments," Jeon added. "In particular, it was reported that even if a ceasefire or subsequent end of war is established, considerable time will be required for logistics and transportation normalization as well as restoration of Middle East energy production facilities."
Accordingly, the government decided to maintain its existing emergency response system. It will continue holding emergency economic review meetings chaired by the President and operating the emergency economic headquarters twice weekly under the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. The "daily monitoring traffic light system" that manages supply and demand by product category will also be maintained. Additional measures such as anti-hoarding bans or emergency supply stabilization measures will be reviewed as needed.
Energy supply response will also be strengthened. "Regarding energy supply, crude oil prices are expected to remain elevated for the time being compared to the pre-war level of $70 per barrel due to supply chain shock effects even after the war ends," Jeon said. "The government will focus all efforts on securing supply and stabilizing prices while continuing to implement the public institution vehicle odd-even system, public parking lot 5-day rotation system, and voluntary private 5-day rotation system in line with the resource security crisis alert level."
On the demand management side, expanded use of public transportation will be encouraged. The government plans to promptly implement the "Everyone's Card" incentive reflected in the supplementary budget to distribute transportation demand during commuting hours. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will finalize institutional improvements this week, pushing to raise the refund rate by up to 30 percentage points and lower the flat-rate refund threshold by 50 percent. These benefits will be applied after system upgrades are completed in early May and will be retroactively applied from the April announcement date.
Support for the petrochemical industry will also proceed in parallel. "Finally, as funding measures for the 678.3 billion won naphtha profit margin differential support project reflected in this supplementary budget have been completed, there was discussion about making all-out efforts to restore naphtha supply to the pre-war level of 2.11 million tons," Jeon said. "The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to immediately begin expanding naphtha imports through urgent communication with refiners, and if the budget is depleted early, additional contingency reserve funds will be injected to minimize impact on industry."
