President Lee Jae-myung said Monday that "the world is engaged in a silent war over the leadership of future economic industries," urging public participation in the "National Participation Growth Fund" scheduled to launch on the 22nd.
Presiding over a meeting of senior secretaries and advisers at the Blue House on Monday, Lee said, "The National Growth Fund, designed to cultivate advanced strategic industries through the hands of the people and share the resulting fruits and opportunities of growth with all citizens, will go on sale starting the 22nd." He added, "Active investment and participation by the public for the growth of advanced industries will provide new and dynamic vitality to our industries," and stressed that "growth that does not share its outcomes with the people is not sustainable."
Lee also said, "The creation of the National Growth Fund will serve as a strong catalyst in spreading productive finance, advancing future high-tech industries, and helping the public build stable assets." He asked officials to "ensure thorough publicity during the remaining period so that more citizens can join the path toward growth for all and share in its fruits, and carefully examine whether there are any institutional shortcomings."
The president also requested thorough preparation for the second round of fuel subsidy payments for those affected by high oil prices. "The first round of fuel subsidy payments will be completed tomorrow," Lee said. "Thanks to meticulous preparations by the central and local governments, there has been little confusion or inconvenience during this payment process." He added, "Please make every effort on pre-inspections and publicity during the remaining period so that the second round of payments, which will begin on the 18th, can also proceed without disruption."
Lee said, "Inflationary pressure is growing as international oil prices remain unstable." He noted that "due to uncertainty surrounding the armistice negotiations, petroleum prices rose by more than 20%, and the consumer price increase in April expanded compared to March." He continued, "Thanks to the government's active price management, the rate of price increase is relatively smaller than in other major countries, but we cannot let our guard down." He pointed out that "if price increases continue, the impact on overall livelihoods will intensify and consumer sentiment will contract, placing a significant burden on the economic recovery trajectory."
Lee emphasized, "Now is the time to set price stability as the top priority and mobilize all means to manage supply chains for crude oil and key raw materials, while stabilizing the supply and demand of major items."
