S. Korea to support hybrid car, LED industries for green growth
- Source: Xinhua
- [10:24 July 13 2009]
- Comments
South Korea is planning to increase state support for green industries, including hybrid car and light- emitting diode (LED) sectors, in a bid to transform the industries into the nation's key growth engines, the finance ministry said Friday.
The government said that it has selected green industries such as hybrid cars and LEDs have been chosen to receive "focused" and "expanded" state help in terms of financing, tax benefits and market creation.
Other than hybrid car and LED industries, the government is still going through open discussions on which sector will be included in the financial support list, the government said.
Earlier in the year, the government announced its comprehensive plan to promote the nation's new growth engines, especially in three core industries, which included green technology made up of six business sectors - renewable energy, carbon-reducing energy, high-tech water management, LEDs and green transportation and city planning.
Ever since then South Korea has been stepping up its green growth drive which aimed at sustainable expansion with minimized consumption of energy and natural resources.
Earlier this week, the South Korean government said that two percent of its annual gross domestic product will be invested in green growth industries to become one of the world's top seven green powerhouses by 2020. rcent), real estate and business services (19 percent), and community, social and personal services (14 percent). Together, they account for half of total SMEs'value- added.
Manufacturing SMEs, though constituting only 5 percent of total SMEs, generated 17 percent of SMEs'total value-added.
Within the local-owned enterprises, wholesalers and retailers form the largest number (31 percent), followed by real estate and business services (19 percent), and finally personal, community and social services (18 percent).
As for foreign-owned enterprises, they mainly engage in wholesale and retail trade, real estate and business trade, and financial services. Together, they account for more than half of total value-added for foreign-owned enterprises. The 4 percent of foreign-owned enterprises in manufacturing sector also contributed a significant 34 percent of total value-added.