Fair Trade Commission chairman Baek Yong-ho said yesterday he will consider using fines imposed on corporations for violations of fair trade regulations to support liquidity for small- and medium-sized enterprises. "We can consider it if we can secure coordination. The issue needs a revision of the related law," Baek told lawmakers at the National Assembly. He was answering Rep. Koh Seung-duk of the Grand National Party who asked if the FTC could use fines to support SMEs. Fines the FTC levied on corporations stood at 272 billion won ($204.8 million) last year. In the past five years, fines reached 1.16 trillion won. With a deepening economic downturn, local SMEs have been suffering a liquidity crunch as domestic banks reduced riskier loans to SMEs.
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