Busan City Allocates 225.8 Billion KRW Emergency Supplementary Budget to Overcome COVID-19

Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don is holding a press conference at the City Hall briefing room on the afternoon of the 13th (Photo by Kim Jong-hyo).

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Jonghyo] Busan City announced on the 13th that it will submit an emergency supplementary budget plan worth 225.8 billion KRW to the city council to overcome the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

This supplementary budget is a measure to support overcoming COVID-19 damage and revitalize the local economy, aiming to create an opportunity for citizens to return to their daily lives. In response to the government’s supplementary budget, the city plans to allocate the budget focusing on the minimum essential demands that can be executed, maximizing the effect of disaster recovery and boosting local economic vitality.

Accordingly, Busan City has allocated 153.7 billion KRW in the supplementary budget to prioritize emergency livelihood stabilization for vulnerable groups such as low-income, children, and elderly who need care due to the prolonged COVID-19 situation. Additionally, 6.6 billion KRW will be invested in purchasing various quarantine supplies, distributing masks to low-income groups, and supporting hospital bed operations for inpatient treatment.

Furthermore, 53.9 billion KRW will be invested to recover consumption and revitalize the local economy. This includes promoting online commerce in traditional markets, supporting export guarantees and insurance premiums for small and medium-sized enterprises, and compensating interest ranging from 1.0% to 2.5% on loans amounting to 300 billion KRW for affected small business owners. To stimulate local consumption, the 10% incentive for the local currency Dongbaekjeon will also be extended until July.

The supplementary budget resources will be procured from excess acquisition tax revenue in January, additional national subsidies following the government supplementary budget, special disaster grants, and contingency funds.

A Busan City official stated, "This supplementary budget plan consists of urgent and executable minimum essential items such as livelihood stabilization, consumption recovery and local economic vitality, infection spread response, and citizen protection." He added, "Once the budget plan is confirmed, we will swiftly proceed with the projects to help citizens return to their daily lives with all our efforts."

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