Gwanak-gu Provides 32.4 Billion KRW Support for Small Businesses Affected by COVID-19

Expansion of SME Development Funds and Credit Guarantees to Alleviate Financial Difficulties, Additional Issuance of 5 Billion Won in Gwanak Sarang Gift Certificates... Support for Businesses Affected by Confirmed Cases, Payment of Closure Support Funds to Private Multi-use Facilities to Focus on Damage Recovery

Park Jun-hee, head of Gwanak District Office, held a meeting with merchants on the 13th after disinfecting the Penguin Market in Jowon-dong to listen to their difficulties.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) announced that it is actively supporting a 32.4 billion KRW scale regional economic revitalization plan to assist small business owners struggling due to COVID-19.

The district expanded the scale of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund loans to 6.2 billion KRW to help small business owners facing increased financial difficulties due to COVID-19.

Originally, the loan scale was 3 billion KRW, but due to the prolonged COVID-19 situation and the high demand from small business owners experiencing financial hardship, an additional 3.2 billion KRW was added through a supplementary budget at the end of this month.

The loan interest rate has been temporarily lowered from the existing 1.5% to an ultra-low rate of 0.8%, nearly half the previous rate, within the 0% range.

The district plans to support about 2.9 billion KRW in loans to 27 companies through ongoing applications and will promptly provide the additional 3.2 billion KRW loan support to help small business owners manage their funds and stabilize their operations.

Additionally, the district increased the credit guarantee support for small business owners lacking collateral by contributing an additional 300 million KRW, significantly expanding the guarantee scale from the original 14.5 billion KRW to 19 billion KRW.

The guarantee ratio was expanded from the original 85% to 100% for amounts up to 30 million KRW, and 95% for amounts exceeding 30 million KRW, while the guarantee fee rate was reduced from 1% to 0.5%.

Furthermore, the district provided closure damage support payments totaling 48 million KRW, with up to 1.95 million KRW (maximum 390,000 KRW per day) paid to 55 of the 107 stores that suffered business damage after being publicly disclosed as places visited by confirmed COVID-19 cases. The remaining stores will also receive payments by May to cover fixed costs such as rent and labor during the closure period.

For 430 private multi-use facilities such as PC rooms and karaoke rooms, and 373 small academies that participated in long-term closures during social distancing, support payments of up to 1 million KRW were provided based on the number of closure days, totaling approximately 760 million KRW in closure support funds.

Seventeen private kindergartens that refunded or deferred March tuition fees due to delayed school openings also received up to 5 million KRW in educational expense subsidies, totaling about 68 million KRW in support.

Moreover, building owners participating in the ‘Good Landlord Movement’ received incentives by supporting building maintenance costs, electrical safety inspections, and disinfection within 30% of the total rent reduction amount, fostering an atmosphere to further spread the movement within the region.

Gwanak-gu increased the purchase limit of the mobile local currency ‘Gwanak Sarang Gift Certificate,’ linked with Zero Pay, from 500,000 KRW to 1 million KRW per month, raised the discount rate from 10% to 15%, and significantly expanded consumer benefits by refunding 5% of the payment amount in cash, while strengthening promotional efforts to help increase small business sales.

Accordingly, from March 23 to April 20, when the COVID-19 discount benefits were expanded, a total of 5.64706 billion KRW worth of gift certificates were sold, seven times the total sales of 866.37 million KRW over about two months since January. The district plans to issue an additional 5 billion KRW worth of Gwanak Sarang Gift Certificates through a supplementary budget to stimulate local consumption.

Also, each department of the district office expanded the ‘Going Day is Market Day’ program, which involves visiting traditional markets and alley stores in their respective neighborhoods to purchase meals and goods, from once a month to twice a month. During lunch hours, they continuously patronized restaurants visited by confirmed cases, making about 250 visits and contributing approximately 20 million KRW to sales increases.

In addition, the district invested 100 million KRW to support events and marketing for traditional markets and shopping districts, and actively supports small business development projects with a budget of about 1 billion KRW for initiatives such as the Our Neighborhood Store Artterior Support Project, Clothing Manufacturer Clean Workshop Creation Project, Youth Small Business Happy Sharing Lunchbox Support Project, and Traditional Market Online Delivery Project.

Mayor Park Jun-hee said, “Thanks to the small business owners who participated in long-term closures and the residents who devoted themselves to high-intensity social distancing, the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases has clearly entered a calming trend. We will focus on the economy like quarantine efforts and do our utmost to revive the local economy devastated by COVID-19.”

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