The new head of the state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) vowed to go on helping financially-stressed local shipyards and shippers weather ongoing challenges regardless of the dent on the bank’s balance sheet as they form bedrock industries for the export-reliant economy.

“Korea Eximbank will give its full support when the government makes a decision on Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co.,” Choi Jong-ku, the state lender’s new chief told reporters after his inauguration ceremony on Tuesday.

Disagreement between the state creditors has been partly blamed for slow restructuring at the shipbuilder that received fresh bailout program in 2015 from the Korea Eximbank, the country’s policy bank under the Ministry of Strategy and Planning and the Korea Development Bank, the shipbuilder’s largest creditor and an entity under Financial Services Commission.

If the government sets a direction, financial policy institutions should comply, said Choi, the former finance ministry official who also served as the deputy head of the Financial Supervisory Service.

The state lender will sort out “good” companies among the country’s troubled shippers and shipbuilders and do its best to revive them.

The country’s backbone industries and some companies that were once the main driver for the country’s economic growth are currently struggling amid a protracted slump in global demand, and it is important that the state lenders contribute to enhancing their competitiveness through “bold” support, he said.

Despite growing concerns over the financial health of Korea Eximbank that last year registered its first loss since its inception, the bank will continue to play a key role as a policy bank during the time of economic slowdown, Choi said.

By Roh Seung Hwan

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