Gyeonggi-do Provides Up to 30 Million Won for Restaurant Facility Improvements to Overcome COVID-19

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province is expanding low-interest loans, previously supported only for exemplary restaurants, to hygiene grade designated establishments.

On the 23rd, Gyeonggi Province announced that it will support facility improvement costs up to 30 million KRW for restaurants affected by the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

This is a measure to ease the burden on food hygiene business owners in the province who are struggling to operate their businesses due to the recent economic downturn caused by COVID-19. Accordingly, hygiene grade designated establishments can receive support up to 30 million KRW with a repayment condition of a 1-year grace period followed by 2 years of equal installment payments.

The province will determine the loanable amount by reviewing the individual financial credit rating and collateral status of the respective businesses. If credit or collateral is insufficient, support will also be provided through credit guarantees from the Gyeonggi Credit Guarantee Foundation.

Loan applications can be made by phone or visit at the hygiene departments of each city/county or any branch of NongHyup Bank (excluding regional NongHyup branches).

Hygiene grade designated establishments are those that receive evaluation results in three stages?Excellent, Good, and Fair?after applying for a hygiene grade evaluation, which is conducted by an evaluation agency divided into three categories: basic, general, and common.

Exemplary restaurants and hygiene grade designated establishments are evaluated by different agencies. The Exemplary Restaurant is evaluated by the Food Culture Improvement Movement Promotion Committee, while the restaurant hygiene grade designation is conducted by the Korea Food Safety Management Certification Institute.

Kang Seon-mu, Director of the Food Safety Division of the province, explained, "With the addition of hygiene grade designated establishments to the loan support targets, we expect more food hygiene business owners to alleviate their operational burdens and provide safer food to residents."

This year, the budget for the low-interest loan project for food hygiene establishments is 6 billion KRW, and currently, 2.838 billion KRW has been supported to 18 establishments.

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