President says Korean economy doing better than world

By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, April 9 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak Thursday called on Korean
citizens to "bravely" face the challenges of the ongoing economic downturn,
saying the country is doing better than the rest of the world.
"The global economy is worsening more than earlier anticipated, but I believe
Korea is not doing as badly," Lee was quoted as saying in a meeting of the
special presidential council on the economic crisis.
The meeting was held at the Seoul City Credit, a city-run organization that
provides guarantees on loans, where the government also announced a set of
measures to help small-and-medium size businesses (SMEs) and small shop owners
that include the injection of fresh 600 billion won (US$4.47 billion) into the
pool of bank loans for SMEs.
Thursday's remarks by the president also renewed his earlier forecast that the
Korean economy, the world's 13th largest, could start to recover from late 2009,
though many observers say the global economic and financial crisis could start to
wane in the second half of next year at the earliest.
"We must embrace ourselves with hope and courage especially when the times are
difficult. The government is also setting up various measures to financially
support those who are willing," the president was quoted as saying by his aides.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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