Tae Jun Lee Global Economic News SOUTH KOREA'S Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki said Monday that the government will significantly expand next year’s budget for the country's BIG3 industries (semiconductor, future car, biohealth) to 6.3 trillion won (US$5.4 billion), up 43 percent from this year. At the 14th Innovation Growth BIG3 Promotion Conference at the Seoul Central Government Complex, Hong said: “The government will continue to roll out policies and strengthen fiscal, tax, financial, and institutional support for the BIG3 industry to achieve rapid growth and strong leadership in global market.” “Regarding the tax policy next year, we will designate semiconductors, batteries, and vaccines as national core strategic technologies and provide much higher tax deduction for R&D and facility investments than tax deduction for new growth and original technologies,” he said. Despite the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's BIG3 industries performed well, according to Hong. “The growth of the BIG3 sectors will not only contribute greatly to the economic recovery, but will also become a core future growth engine for our country's economy,” said Hong. | 