The government said yesterday it would limit its special loans for small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs) to high-technology firms beginning this year.
The government will also spend won 500 bn (US$483 m) over the next five years to help SMEs and colleges cooperatively develop new technologies related to parts and materials manufacturing.
The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy and the Small and Medium Business Administration unveiled those plans at a meeting with the Presidential Commission on Small and Medium Enterprises. "The government's small and medium business policy will be changed into a ‘select and focus' policy," Commerce Minister Lee Hee-beom told.
The Small and Medium Business Administration is already selecting companies with high technology or in new industries to designate them as "reform-oriented small- and medium-
sized businesses."
