On the afternoon of the 9th at the Blue House, Kim Yong-beom, senior presidential secretary for policy, held a briefing and said, "It has become necessary to implement a price ceiling system, and we should have a serious discussion because additional funding is needed for that." He hinted at the possibility of pursuing an extra budget to respond to the Middle East crisis.
Asked whether it would be possible to secure funding to implement the government's measures, Deputy Minister Kim said, "Oil prices and various economic outlooks for this year had been quite good, but that has changed," adding, "Something we have never experienced has already happened, and if it is not contained early, we will have to redo the outlook entirely."
Deputy Minister Kim explained, "This situation will create a lot of demand, there are industries and consumers directly hit, and including various market-stabilizing steps, the top priority has become steering the Korea economy so it does not suffer damage."
He went on, "If we stay within a fixed limit, we cannot implement a price ceiling system," and added, "Given current oil prices, we need to respond with a price ceiling system, and because a lot of additional funding is needed for that, we should have a serious discussion about it."
According to Article 23, Paragraph 3 of the Petroleum Business Act, the government can provide fiscal support to compensate petroleum refiners, petroleum importers and exporters, and petroleum sellers for losses incurred due to the designation of a ceiling on petroleum sales prices. If a price ceiling system is implemented, the industry's heavy losses would be unavoidable, implying the government would seek to secure funds through an extra budget to make up for them.