President Moon: "Up to 2 Million Won for Small Business Owners and Self-Employed" 7.8 Trillion Won Supplementary Budget

Presiding over the 8th Emergency Economic Meeting
"Tailored Support for Severely Affected Industries and Occupations"

President Moon Jae-in is presiding over the 8th Emergency Economic Meeting at the Blue House on the morning of the 10th.

President Moon Jae-in chaired the 8th Emergency Economic Meeting at the Blue House on the 10th and finalized the formulation of the 4th supplementary budget (supplementary budget) worth 7.8 trillion won to respond to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

In his opening remarks at the meeting, President Moon said, "We have formulated the 4th supplementary budget worth 7.8 trillion won," adding, "It is a disaster-tailored supplementary budget that provides thick support focused on industries and occupations severely affected." He continued, "With 3.8 trillion won, which accounts for half of the total supplementary budget, 3.77 million people will benefit," emphasizing, "Of this, 3.2 trillion won will be provided as cash support of up to 2 million won to 2.91 million small business owners and self-employed individuals."

At the meeting, the supplementary budget plan for vulnerable groups such as small business owners and self-employed people hit hard by the resurgence of COVID-19 and measures to stabilize livelihoods during Chuseok were intensively discussed. The detailed projects were designed to provide tailored support, including communication fee support, the Small Business New Hope Fund, the 2nd COVID-19 emergency employment stabilization subsidy for vulnerable employment groups such as workers in special employment types (special types of employment), emergency living expenses for low-income households, and child care coupons.

President Moon stated, "We will additionally invest finances to protect jobs that form the foundation of life," adding, "Although we have supported a special employment safety measure worth 10 trillion won, we will additionally invest 1.4 trillion won to protect 1.19 million jobs amid the ongoing employment crisis."

Furthermore, President Moon said, "We will provide emergency living support by significantly relaxing the requirements so that it can be widely supported to those who really need it to maintain their livelihoods," adding, "880,000 people who were previously in blind spots will newly receive support." He also emphasized, "We extended the family care leave period by 10 days and greatly expanded the special care support recipients who receive 200,000 won each from those under 7 years old to elementary school students, benefiting 5.32 million people."

The government also issued foreign exchange bonds denominated in US dollars and euros worth 1.45 billion dollars. President Moon said, "The euro-denominated foreign exchange bond is the first negative interest rate government bond among European countries, and the dollar-denominated foreign exchange bond also has the lowest interest rate ever," adding, "The successful issuance of these ultra-low interest rate, even negative interest rate, foreign exchange bonds also shows the strong trust of overseas investors in the Korean economy."

This Emergency Economic Meeting was held two months after the 7th meeting, which was held on July 14 alongside the Korean New Deal National Report Conference. Immediately after the Emergency Economic Meeting, the government will hold an extraordinary Cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun to finalize the 4th supplementary budget plan, and in the afternoon, announce the results of the Emergency Economic Meeting through a joint briefing with related ministries.

Meanwhile, as most of the supplementary budget is planned to be financed by issuing deficit bonds, there are criticisms that the original purpose of selective support has been undermined due to the inclusion of communication fees and idol boom support. Dissatisfaction among citizens excluded from the support targets is also expected to persist.

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