Naju Mayor Kang In-gyu Focuses on Inspecting COVID-19 Response 'Livelihood Stability Policies'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yukbong] Naju City, Jeollanam-do announced on the 28th that Mayor Kang In-gyu conducted a focused inspection of the progress of livelihood stabilization policies through the ‘3rd Team Leader Meeting of the COVID-19 Response Regional Economic Countermeasures Headquarters’ held at the city hall small conference room on the 27th.

As part of overcoming the regional economic crisis caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the city officially launched the Regional Economic Countermeasures Headquarters on the 1st, with Mayor Kang as the head, and is currently developing and implementing 33 policies across five countermeasure sectors (livelihood stabilization, economic industry, living SOC, agricultural stability, and overall countermeasures).

In particular, since the 13th, Mayor Kang has been checking the implementation results and plans for key policies in each sector through the countermeasures headquarters meetings held every Monday alongside executive meetings.

The livelihood stabilization policies reported at this meeting include five projects: ▲ a campaign for all city officials to purchase Naju Love Gift Certificates ▲ expanded operation of days off for the city hall cafeteria ▲ temporary disaster livelihood support for welfare recipients ▲ local tax support for COVID-19 victims ▲ prioritizing the use of local companies and purchasing local products.

The city is encouraging all public officials to participate in the Naju Love Gift Certificate purchase campaign, requiring employees at grade 5 or higher to purchase and use gift certificates worth 700,000 KRW, grade 6 employees 500,000 KRW, grade 7 employees 400,000 KRW, and grade 8 or lower employees 200,000 KRW from this month through July.

Through this gift certificate purchase campaign, which aims to sell 500 million KRW monthly and 2 billion KRW over four months, the city plans to share the burden of local small business owners and self-employed individuals facing management difficulties and promote real income stabilization.

Additionally, the cafeteria day-off system, which was previously twice a month, has been expanded to every Monday (four times a month), revitalizing the depressed restaurant streets.

The city reports that over the past two weeks, the two cafeteria day-offs have generated over 25 million KRW in consumption from approximately 1,570 main office employees dining out for lunch.

Applications and payments for various support funds to stabilize the lives of citizens suffering economic difficulties due to COVID-19 are also progressing smoothly.

The largest budget item, the Jeonnam-type (Naju City) COVID-19 Emergency Living Expenses, involves a total of 8.24 billion KRW (3.296 billion KRW from provincial funds and 4.944 billion KRW from city funds).

The support targets households with ‘median income 100% or below’ based on health insurance premiums, and living stabilization funds are provided differentially up to 500,000 KRW (in gift certificates) reflecting each household’s financial condition.

From the 7th to the 22nd, 22,105 households applied, and through the first payment, 916 households received emergency living expenses totaling approximately 308 million KRW.

Furthermore, the temporary living support project for low-income groups provided 2.414 billion KRW to 4,141 households of basic livelihood recipients and near-poverty groups, and childcare coupons worth 2.573 billion KRW were distributed to 6,436 children under the age of seven.

For local small business owners and self-employed individuals, ‘Good Landlords’ participating in rent reduction campaigns, ‘export small and medium enterprises’ experiencing sharp sales declines due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, and ‘parts import manufacturing companies’ will be offered property tax (building portion) reductions and extensions or deferrals of various local taxes (acquisition tax, personal local income tax, etc.) payment deadlines starting in July.

As part of prioritizing the use of local companies and purchasing local products, the city plans to expand the limit for direct contracts for construction and service payments from the current 5 million KRW to 20 million KRW starting next month on the 1st.

This is expected to resolve issues pointed out in the public competitive bidding system such as procedural complexity, reduced participation opportunities for local affiliates, and sluggish rapid budget execution, thereby stabilizing local companies’ management and promoting consumption.

Mayor Kang said, “Although the recent spread of COVID-19 has subsided, there is still much the city must do to overcome the frozen livelihood economy crisis,” adding, “I ask for thorough and swift implementation of sector-specific policies to ensure that no one is left behind during the COVID-19 economic crisis and that timely support is provided.”

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