Small Business Owners Face 90% Sales Drop Due to COVID-19... Urgent Need for Financial Support

Photo by Asia Economy DB

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] The Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise (hereinafter referred to as KFME) has urged the government to provide financial support to small business owners struggling due to the novel coronavirus infection (Wuhan pneumonia) outbreak. KFME plans to demand clear responses and solutions from the government through weekly emergency surveys.

On the 5th, Choi Seungjae, president of KFME, stated in the "KFME Special Statement," "Through an on-site meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister for Economy, we emphasized the need for expanding special guarantees for small business owners, adjusting interest rates to the level of farmers and fishermen, and deferring repayments as part of financial support."

Earlier, on the 3rd, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Hong Namki and President Choi discussed countermeasures against the spread of the novel coronavirus at the "Small Business Owners Meeting." At this meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Hong said he would consider lowering the interest rates on special guarantees for small business owners to the level of farmers or disaster special guarantees.

President Choi conveyed, "In the field, when small business owners visit lending institutions to receive special guarantees, they are repeatedly rejected due to low credit ratings," and added, "This time, we strongly urged the government to establish practical measures so that small business owners who truly need loans can receive the necessary benefits."

Furthermore, President Choi emphasized that small business owners, the government, and the public must unite their efforts to overcome this crisis.

He said, "Consumer visits have decreased nationwide regardless of banquet halls, dining businesses, traditional markets, or shopping districts, and especially the sales of vulnerable small business owners are sharply declining," adding, "The voices from the field indicate that sales have dropped to as low as half or even one-tenth."

President Choi also called on the small business sector to strive to raise hygiene standards one step higher through this incident.

He stated, "We must voluntarily improve hygiene levels in stores and conduct daily inspections so that consumers can trust and confidently visit the stores," and added, "Let us actively cooperate with the government and quarantine authorities to end this situation early and do our best so that small business owners regain public trust and their economy can be revitalized."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.