Gov't to monitor prices of 31 items until Chuseok

The government will closely monitor 31 items including farm products on a daily basis in a bid to stabilize their prices and ease the pain of working-class people ahead of the Chuseok holiday late this month, the finance ministry said Tuesday.

Subject to daily price monitoring are 15 farm products, six personal services and 10 daily necessities, whose demand is expected to spike before the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving Day, which falls on Sept. 30 this year, according to the ministry.

The ministry added that it will expand the supplies of the farm products, including cabbage, radish, apples, beef, pork and chicken, by about 50 percent compared to normal days until just before the holiday kicks off.

The moves are aimed at stabilizing prices of key products and services, which are expected to be in strong demand ahead and during the holiday.

The government, in particular, is keeping a close eye on the price movements of the key products, as concerns are rising that their prices could also spike in the wake of recent strong typhoons, which have devastated large areas of farmland.

Also, in order to help small companies that could suffer a liquidity crunch in the weeks to come, the ministry said it will provide 14.9 trillion won (US$13.3 billion) available in the form of loans and loan guarantees through state-run and commercial banks.

"Although consumer price growth remains stable in the 1 percent range, the recent typhoons are causing the prices of farm products to increase, making working-class people feel more of a pinch from the rising costs than others," the ministry said.

"We are making more efforts to ease the pain among working-class people and owners of small companies, helping them enjoy the holiday and share time with each other with less worries about prices," it added. (Yonhap)