The National Growth Fund, which will invest 150 trillion won in advanced industries over the next five years, will manage over 30 trillion won next year to support advanced strategic industries, venture innovation companies, scale-ups, and regional growth. The government announced this plan at the Industrial Competitiveness Enhancement Ministers’ Meeting and Growth Strategy TF Meeting held on the 16th.
The fund will support equipment supply, facility construction, and infrastructure such as energy generation and transmission for advanced strategic industries like semiconductors, secondary batteries, vaccines, displays, hydrogen, future cars, bio, AI, defense, and robots. It will identify mega projects with significant industry impact and support them through a comprehensive package including regulation, taxation, finance, and workforce development, led by a joint task force of ministries and private experts.
Direct investment will involve participating in capital increases for SMEs and mid-sized companies that find it difficult to secure market loans or low-interest loans, or in capital increases for special purpose companies for large-scale factory expansions. Indirect investment will involve creating large-scale funds with private capital from banks, pension funds, and retirement funds to execute equity investments aligned with policy objectives. The scale is 1.5 trillion won from the fund and 5.5 trillion won from private capital, totaling 7 trillion won.
Ultra-low interest loans will support large-scale facility investments and R&D at 2-3% national bond levels, with a fund size of 10 trillion won. The decision-making structure of the National Growth Fund will be centered on private experts from the financial and industrial sectors to ensure the highest level of professionalism, fairness, and transparency. It will have a two-stage decision structure with an Investment Review Committee and a Fund Management Review Committee, and will utilize advisory bodies and government meetings to discuss policies.