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| Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho speaks during a meeting of economy-related ministers at Government Complex Seoul, Monday. Yonhap |
By Yi Whan-woo
The government will sell off 16 trillion won ($12.2 billion) worth of state-owned properties that are rarely used, as a part of efforts to improve the efficiency of the public sector.
The targeted properties will be on sale over the next five years and the government expects the plan will lead to a cycle of assets being sold by the public to the private sectors in line with President Yoon Suk-yeol's vision of economic growth driven by private enterprises.
"The government is pushing to drastically revamp management in the public sector to overcome the economic crisis," Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho said during a meeting with economy-related ministers at Government Complex Seoul in central Seoul, Monday. "This is where the sale of state-owned properties will come in, for them to be used in a productive way by the private sector."
The state-owned properties, such as land, buildings and roads, were worth 701 trillion won as of 2021.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance said it finds 16 trillion won or more worth of such properties to be "not productive enough."
The ministry will launch a joint task force with relevant ministries to come up with a detailed sale plan.
The properties include nine commercial buildings scattered across Gyeonggi Province. They are estimated to be worth 200 billion won and may be put up for sale this month at the earliest, according to the finance ministry.
Properties that the private sector may find burdensome to purchase due to their high value and other reasons may be designated as "joint development projects" between the central government, local governments and private sector.
The economy-related ministerial meeting also discussed urgent issues to cope with soaring inflation that hit a 24-year high of 6.3 percent in July.
Inflation is anticipated to grow through October, raising the chance that prices of foods and daily necessities in high demand will go up more in the lead up to the Chuseok holiday that falls on Sept. 10 this year.
In that regard, the finance minister vowed to introduce a set of measures this week to curb the prices of goods influenced by the Chuseok holiday.
"The government will prioritize stabilizing prices and people's livelihoods," Choo said, adding, "We will speed up such efforts with Chuseok approaching."
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