SEOUL, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- South Korea will maintain its fiscal expansion policy and other emergency economic measures for the time being in order to keep the fledgling recovery going, the government said Thursday.

    In a report looking back on the president-led weekly meetings on emergency economic measures in 2009, the government said it will continue carrying out aggressive fiscal policies including front-loading 60 percent of the planned fiscal spending during the first half of the year and gradually reducing fiscal deficit with an aim to reach a balance by 2013 or 2014.

    The government also plans to further encourage voluntary restructuring efforts of domestic companies by designating companies with potential financial difficulties and helping them go through debt restructuring programs, according to the government report.

    Small and medium-sized companies will be given further government support and trade infrastructure will be strengthened to help the country's export-dependant economy lead its way out of the economic downturn, the government said.

    Household loans, including home mortgage loans, will be placed under stricter supervision in an attempt to prevent housing bubble amid low interest rates, the government said, vowing to take preemptive measures against potential housing market destabilization.

    But temporary financial support measures for low-income brackets, introduced at the height of the global financial crisis to help about 660,000 households, will not be extended, while the social safety net for the unemployed would be expanded and strengthened, the government said.

    The government said it will also seek to stem inflationary pressure and stabilize the country's real estate market by stepping up regulation on price-fixing and easing entry barrier for everyday necessity products while increasing stockpiles of raw materials.

    The weekly meetings on emergency economic measures, presided over by President Lee Myung-bak in his office Cheong Wa Dae, have been convened every Thursday morning since January 2009.

    Along with the president, government officials, party lawmakers, civilian experts and CEOs joined the meetings, with 757 participants in 40 meetings for the last year, according to the government report.

    Last year, the Asia's fourth-biggest economy took a hard blow amid the global financial crisis as its export-driven economy lost steam, but it has recently seen nascent signs of an economic recovery with better-than-expected economic indicators suggestive of an upturn.

    Despite rosy signs, the president recently said South Korea will remain in what he calls an "emergency economic rescue mode" during the first half of next year without seeking an exit strategy and he would newly establish a meeting on job creation.

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis