July 16, 1985 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News

Korean Shipbuilders Request Reduction Of Interest Rates

The major Korean Shipyards have recently asked the Korean Government to lower the interest rate on loans for ship and plant equipment exports on deferred payment terms.

At a recent meeting arranged with the minister of commerce and industry at the Plaza Hotel in Seoul, Korean shipbuilders requested the reduction of interest rates from the current 9 percent for export ships and 10 percent for plant equipment to 8 percent and 9 percent, respectively, in order to cope with the current shipbuilding recession. The Korean yards pointed out that Japanese General Trading Companies have now adopted a 7.5 percent interest rate, while the OECD Guide Line is 8 percent.

Minister Keum-Jin-Ho said in reply to the request that he would look for ways to improve financing conditions, but the lowering of the interest rate would be difficult under the present circumstances. He said, however, that an increase in the ratio of loans from the Korean export and import bank would be considered from the current 70 percent to 80 percent to provide additional Koexim (Korean Export/Import) funds.

Meanwhile, Korean yards received export orders for only four vessels of 125,425 gross tons valued at $89 million in the first three months of this year.

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