New Fund to Boost Vitality of Small and Medium Enterprises... 5.4 Trillion Won Scale

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] On the 31st, the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund announced that it will implement the ‘Small and Medium Enterprise Vitality Reinforcement Program’ to support the management stability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) struggling due to economic downturn and decreased trade.

This program consists of three parts: ▲Export Enterprise Support Program ▲Core Industry Competitiveness Recovery Program ▲Management Stability Support Program, with a total support scale of 5.4 trillion KRW annually.

The Export Enterprise Support Program targets export companies facing difficulties due to sluggish external trade, and the Core Industry Competitiveness Recovery Program supports companies operating in six major core industries: automobile, chemical, steel, shipbuilding, display, and semiconductor.

For export companies and companies in core industries, the guarantee ratio (90% or higher) and guarantee fee rate (0.2 percentage points discount) will be preferentially applied to reduce the financial burden on companies.

The Management Stability Support Program targets companies experiencing cash flow imbalances due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and will support full maturity extensions for all loan guarantees maturing by the end of September.

To minimize inconvenience to companies and provide prompt support, except for cases requiring separate review, the maturity extension process will be handled without visits by using phone recordings and digital certificate signature methods.

A representative from the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund stated, “We are fully committed to fulfilling our role as a policy institution to ensure the swift management stabilization of companies struggling due to the spread of COVID-19,” and added, “We will continue to make efforts for rapid and active support for affected companies.”

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