The South Korean government said on Friday that it would remove seven additional food taxes and provide financial assistance to low-income households to curb rising inflation.
Taxes will be deducted from 100,000 tons of imported beef, 82,500 tons of exported chicken, powdered milk, coffee beans, green onions, and ethanol products. The government will also increase the free share of imported pigs.
That includes 26 pre-paid imported products, plus cooking oil and natural gas, which will cost 329 billion ($ 252.9 million) in total, Yonhap News Agency said.
President Yoon Suk-yeol chaired the first economic and social emergency meeting on Friday, when he pledged to provide another $ 480 billion ($ 370 million) to help low-income families.
“The government should focus on people’s lives as a matter of life and death,” Yoon said at the conference. “Right now we are in danger. I urge you to come up with all the possible solutions. “
Consumer spending in South Korea rose by 6 percent in June, the highest since the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, encouraging central bank betting could offer more than 50 interest rates on interest rates at next week’s meeting.
‘Many Difficulties’
Deputy Prime Minister Choo Kyung-ho has previously warned that “many” economic crises “could lead to global threats to South Korea’s economy as prices rise.
“The government needs to be prepared to deal with the effects of external economic downturns, such as exports and currencies, not to mention prices and markets because the economy relies heavily on exports,” Choo said at an emergency meeting on July 3.
Choo said exports peaked in the first half of 2022, growing by two numbers at the same time last year.
“However, the prospect of exports in the second half of this year looks daunting given the current situation, such as a growing recession, beyond inflation and the global turmoil resulting from the Russia-Ukraine long war,” he said. he added.
Although inflation has come from overseas, which relies heavily on energy supplies, food, and industry, it comes at a time when President Yoon, who took office two months ago, is struggling with popularity.
A weekly Gallup Korea poll revealed on Friday that Yoon’s presidential nomination has dropped to 37 percent from 43 percent last week, as opposed to 49 percent unconventional, for the first time since taking office.
Reuters co-sponsored the report.
Follow
Aldgra Fredly is a Malaysian freelance writer, writing the Asia Pacific news for The Epoch Times.
Recent Comments