Gyeongbuk Province Provides Emergency Disaster Living Expenses to 335,000 Households

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Young-wook] Gyeongbuk Province announced on the 19th that it will provide emergency disaster living expenses to residents who are struggling to make a living due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

The province and cities/counties have allocated a budget of 164.6 billion KRW from their own funds to support 335,000 households with an income below 85% of the median income (less than 1,494,000 KRW for a single-person household).

Although there are 502,000 households in the province with income below 85% of the median income, 167,000 households who are already receiving government support such as basic livelihood security recipients, emergency welfare support and unemployment benefit recipients, and low-income temporary living support recipients were excluded.

The support amount is 300,000 KRW for single-person households, 500,000 KRW for two-person households, 600,000 KRW for three-person households, and 700,000 KRW for households of four or more. It will be provided in the form of local gift certificates or check cards to encourage quick spending.

Separately, the province will use funds from the Small and Medium Business Promotion Fund to provide 1 trillion KRW in interest-free special funds to small business owners. The review process, which used to take about two months, will be drastically shortened to within 20 days.

A provincial official said, "This is a one-time support to help overcome the livelihood crisis caused by COVID-19," adding, "We hope the emergency disaster living expenses will serve as a timely relief like rain during a drought."

The provincial council plans to promptly process the supplementary budget bill for overcoming COVID-19 on the 20th and submit the 'Low-Income Residents' Livelihood Stability Support Ordinance' related to the emergency disaster living expenses on the 26th.

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