Yeosu City Provides Over 3.6 Billion KRW in Public Utility Payments to More Than 12,000 Small Business Owners

30 Million KRW Each for Small Business Owners with Fewer Than 5 Regular Employees and Annual Sales Under 300 Million KRW

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Yeosu City (Mayor Kwon Oh-bong) announced that the application period for the 'Public Utility Fee Support Project,' implemented since April 7 to assist small business owners struggling with a sharp decline in sales due to COVID-19, ended on May 29.

According to Yeosu City, 12,564 applicants applied, and after document screening and on-site verification conducted over more than 10 rounds, 12,111 were confirmed. 266 applicants are currently supplementing their documents, and the remaining 187 were excluded from eligibility due to reasons such as excluded business types or no business establishment.

The city has issued a total of 3.306 billion KRW worth of Yeosu Love Gift Certificates to 11,022 people as of June 12. For the 1,089 people who have been confirmed as recipients but have not yet collected their gift certificates, the city plans to encourage prompt receipt.

The small business public utility fee support provides 300,000 KRW worth of Yeosu Love Gift Certificates per business to cover fixed expenses such as electricity, water, and gas for small business establishments suffering from prolonged COVID-19-related business difficulties.

A Yeosu City official stated, "We plan to make final decisions on the 266 applicants supplementing their documents by June 19, and for the 1,089 who have not yet received their certificates, we will visit them directly on-site to ensure payment, aiming to complete the process by the end of June." He added, "We hope this support has provided practical help to small business owners facing difficulties."

Meanwhile, Yeosu City is investing its own budget to provide financial support measures for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small business owners, serving as a foundation for regional economic recovery amid the economic downturn caused by COVID-19.

For SMEs, the city offers up to 2 billion KRW per company within a total scale of 10 billion KRW, with interest subsidies of 2 to 2.5% annually for two years. For small business owners, up to 50 million KRW per company within a total scale of 15 billion KRW is provided, with a 3% annual interest subsidy for two years. For low-credit small business owners, special guarantees are provided with interest subsidies of 3% and guarantee fee support for one year, up to 30 million KRW per company within a total scale of 1.8 billion KRW.

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