The government is committed to helping small and medium enterprises and reviving traditional markets that form the backbone of the local economy, the finance minister said Wednesday.

Bahk Jae-wan told a weekly economic policymakers meeting that Seoul aims to implement programs that will directly benefit SMEs and small-time merchants that employ the bulk of the country’s workforce.

“Efforts are also underway to revive traditional markets that have been losing ground to large discount outlets and big super market chains owned by conglomerates,” he said. “State policies must be tailored to allow small and medium businesses to reap benefits.”

The government is receiving feedback from regional offices of the Small and Medium Business Administration and the Small Business Corp. to make further changes in the future, he said.

The country’s chief economic policymaker said the recent spike in international energy prices is exerting negative influence on the domestic economy and stressed more public effort to conserve resources.

Bahk, meanwhile, said that energy use is directly related to the environment and highlighted measures carried out by the government so far to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emission levels.

Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, sulfur hexafluoride and nitrous oxide have been cited for causing dangerous global warming.

After the green growth act went into effect in 2010, the government allocated 2.8 trillion won ($2.4 billion) last year to fuel research and development designed to help cut back on greenhouse gases released into the environment, he said. 

(Yonhap News)