Separate Support of 620 Billion Won for Daegu and Gyeongbuk Hit Hard by COVID-19

Government Announces 'Supplementary Budget to Overcome COVID-19'

On the 3rd, soldiers from the Army 2nd Operations Command conducted quarantine and disinfection operations to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) around Daegu Medical Center in Jungri-dong, Seo-gu, Daegu.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The government has separately allocated support funds for Daegu and Gyeongbuk, where 90% of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) are concentrated, in this supplementary budget. In addition to the common support budget, a dedicated budget for Daegu and Gyeongbuk has been injected to not only block the spread of COVID-19 in the region but also to support the recovery of the local economy, which is suffering from severe stagnation.

According to the 'Supplementary Budget to Minimize the Impact of COVID-19 and Achieve Early Overcoming' announced by the government on the 4th, 620.9 billion KRW out of the total 11.7 trillion KRW was allocated to Daegu and Gyeongbuk. Including the fund supply due to the expansion of guarantee scale, the total support amount increases to 1.5 trillion KRW.

Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, explained, "We will provide special support by separately allocating support funds to the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions, which are experiencing severe difficulties such as the closure of representative traditional markets, a local attraction, due to the concentration of confirmed cases." He added, "We will first supply 1.4 trillion KRW of business stabilization funds to affected small business owners and SMEs, and also included a budget of 100 billion KRW for restoring damaged stores and supporting online sales channels."

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of midnight on the 3rd, 4,285 (89.0%) of the 4,812 confirmed cases were from Daegu and Gyeongbuk. Accordingly, the government decided to build one of the two new 'Infectious Disease Specialized Hospitals' in the Yeongnam region to strengthen response capabilities against large-scale new infectious diseases. A budget of 40.9 billion KRW was allocated for this, and 3.7 billion KRW was assigned to reinforce the quarantine system, including the expansion of 15 negative pressure beds.

The area receiving the largest budget is emergency fund support for affected SMEs and small business owners. Through the Small and Medium Business Corporation and the Small Enterprise and Market Service, emergency management fund loans amounting to 460 billion KRW will be supported. In addition, special guarantees of 900 billion KRW from the Credit Guarantee Fund and Technology Guarantee Fund and regional credit guarantees, as well as 40 billion KRW for accounts receivable insurance, will be expanded. Especially, 100 billion KRW will be provided for facility investment funds to help SMEs struggling with management difficulties due to COVID-19 to recover.

A separate budget was also allocated to support the recovery of the local economy and damaged stores in Daegu and Gyeongbuk. A budget of 31.8 billion KRW will be invested in customized R&D vouchers for SMEs in Daegu and Gyeongbuk. Additionally, out of the supplementary budget of 100 billion KRW for special employment stability such as employment retention and workplace environment improvement, 20 billion KRW each will be allocated to Daegu and Gyeongbuk, totaling 40 billion KRW. Out of the 37.2 billion KRW budget for hygiene safety certification and reopening event support for temporarily closed stores due to confirmed cases, 12 billion KRW will be allocated to Daegu and Gyeongbuk.

Furthermore, to revitalize traditional markets that have been depressed due to COVID-19, a total of 11.2 billion KRW in 'market management vouchers' will be provided to all 281 markets in Daegu and Gyeongbuk, and 6 billion KRW will be invested to support online sales channels for small business owners.

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