Gyeonggi-do Provides Emergency Funding of 1.35 Billion KRW to Exporting SMEs Affected by COVID-19

[Asia Economy (Uijeongbu) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province will support export insurance premiums and guarantee fees for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the province that suffered export damages due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) this year. The total support fund amounts to 1.35 billion KRW.

The province will first expand the Gyeonggi Anshim Export Insurance Premium Support Project, doubling the project budget from the existing 450 million KRW to 900 million KRW.

The Gyeonggi Anshim Export Insurance Premium Support Project is a program that supports export insurance (guarantee) premiums operated by the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation for small and medium export companies in the province.

The supported categories include six types: short-term insurance, SME PLUS insurance, group insurance, pre-shipment export guarantee, post-shipment export guarantee, and foreign exchange fluctuation insurance.

The province also supports enrollment in 'group insurance,' which guarantees up to 95% of losses within a maximum limit of 50,000 USD in case of risks such as non-collection of export payments. The support targets 2,000 small and medium enterprises in the province.

Kim Gyu-sik, Director of Economic Planning at the province, said, "The burden on SMEs related to foreign trade is increasing due to COVID-19," and added, "We expect this project to greatly contribute to companies' export market development and diversification."

Over the past three years (2017?2019), the province supported export company insurance and guarantee fees for a total of 4,896 companies with 1.5 billion KRW. During this period, 140 companies received 14.7 billion KRW in insurance claims.

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the province from the 27th of last month to the 12th of this month targeting 303 export SMEs in the province showed that 80% of the responding companies answered that support related to fund management is necessary.

In particular, it was confirmed that many export companies in the province are experiencing difficulties such as contract cancellations, non-collection of export payments, and shortages of emergency operating funds due to the spread of COVID-19.

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