"78.8% of 300 Billion Won Top Efficiency Appliance Rebates Are for Large Corporation Products"

Large Corporations' Products Refund 184.5 Billion KRW... Small and Medium Enterprises' Products Refund 49.7 Billion KRW
Kim Gyeongman "Need for System Improvement Including Excluding High-Priced Electronics and Favoring SME Products"

Kim Kyung-man, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] Concerns have been raised that the 300 billion KRW 'Top Efficiency Home Appliance Purchase Cost Rebate Program' implemented by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is heavily skewed toward products from large corporations.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the 21st to Kim Kyung-man, a member of the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, and Small and Medium Venture Business Committee from the Democratic Party, among the products applied for rebates through this year's Top Efficiency Home Appliance Rebate Program, products from large corporations accounted for 1.14 million cases and 184.5 billion KRW, representing 78.8% of the total rebate amount.

Applications for rebates on products from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies amounted to 700,000 cases and 49.7 billion KRW, accounting for only 21.2%.

Compared to last year, the program's budget increased tenfold from 30 billion KRW to 300 billion KRW. Among this, the rebate amount for large corporation products increased 15 times, while that for SME products increased only 3.6 times.

Last year, the rebate share for SME and mid-sized company products exceeded half at 53%, but this year it is significantly lower, not even reaching half.

Minister Sung Yun-mo of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is visiting Electron Land in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, to check the sales status of top-efficiency home appliances. / July 3, 2020. Photo by Jin-hyung Kang aymsdream@

Assemblyman Kim Kyung-man pointed out, "The Top Efficiency Home Appliance Rebate Program is excessively concentrated on large corporation products, reducing benefits for ordinary citizens and SMEs, so improvements are necessary."

The Top Efficiency Home Appliance Rebate Program temporarily refunds 10% of the purchase price, up to a maximum of 300,000 KRW, when purchasing energy-efficient home appliances until the budget is exhausted.

The 150 billion KRW budget reflected in the first supplementary budget this year was exhausted within three months, and an additional 150 billion KRW was allocated in the third supplementary budget, but this too is expected to be depleted early.

Assemblyman Kim emphasized, "The rebate program, implemented to revitalize the domestic economy stagnated by COVID-19, has been used more for promoting high-priced products from large corporations than for SMEs. It is necessary to improve the program by excluding high-priced home appliances from rebate eligibility or by favoring SME products so that benefits can be distributed evenly to ordinary citizens and SMEs."

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