Ministry of the Interior and Safety Secures 676.3 Billion Won in Supplementary Budget... Rapid Execution for COVID-19 Damage Recovery

Increase Disaster Relief Fund by 400 Billion Won and Support Local Love Gift Certificates with 240 Billion Won

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 18th that it has secured an additional 676.3 billion KRW to cover costs related to COVID-19 damage recovery following the passage of the supplementary budget bill for responding to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) by the National Assembly on the 17th.

The budget under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety reflected in the supplementary budget includes disaster response funds for damage recovery in special disaster areas and increased support funds for the issuance of local love gift certificates.

The disaster response fund increased by 400 billion KRW. This budget will be used to support damage recovery costs in Daegu and the Gyeongbuk regions of Cheongdo, Gyeongsan, and Bonghwa, which were designated as special disaster areas due to COVID-19.

The support fund for issuing local love gift certificates to stimulate local consumption increased by 240 billion KRW. The originally planned issuance scale of local love gift certificates was 3 trillion KRW, but it has been expanded to 6 trillion KRW. For the additional issuance of 3 trillion KRW, 240 billion KRW, equivalent to 8% of the issuance amount, will be supported by the central government to reduce the financial burden on local governments.

Each local government plans to issue an additional 3 trillion KRW worth of local love gift certificates for at least four months. The usual discount rate of around 5% will be raised to about 10%, and the monthly purchase limit per individual will be expanded to 1 million KRW.

In addition, local allocation tax was increased by 36.3 billion KRW. This budget will be used to expand local finances and respond to the COVID-19 infectious disease.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety stated, "We will closely cooperate with related ministries and local governments to ensure that the supplementary budget for overcoming COVID-19 is promptly executed on the ground, and we will manage budget execution by holding monthly execution inspection meetings chaired by the vice minister."

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