Merger and Abolition of Government Funds for Small & Medium Industries

The government funds for small and medium industries have been overlapped among the related offices.

Ministry of Planning & Budget announced yesterday to reduce from 83 funds, related to the small and medium industries, to 70 funds.

Jang Byung-Wan, the Director General for Economic Budget of Ministry of Planning and Budget(MPB), told that a similar kind of funds was scattered among the departments and offices, and they had different standards to support the funds. Furthermore, certain companies have received a similar kind of funds from the different departments.

For instance, `the fund for improvement of environment` of Ministry of Environment, and `the fund for environment facility investment` of Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MCIE) are similar in their characteristics. And the `fund for fostering component materials industries` of Small and Medium Business Administration, and `the fund for technology development of component materials are also overlapped.

Theses funds have been employed without any unified system.

The 83 government funds for small and medium industries have been managed by the 12 different departments and offices. The total amount is 5 trillion 100 billion won.

Choi Young-Hae moneychoi@donga.com