‘Ontong Daejeon’ Daejeon Local Currency Popular... Next Year’s Issuance and Benefits Also Increase

Provided by Daejeon City

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The local currency of Daejeon, ‘Ontong Daejeon,’ has gained popularity, surpassing 70 billion won in issuance within one week. Furthermore, the issuance scale of local currency is expected to increase by 500 billion won next year compared to this year, and the 10% cashback event is likely to be maintained continuously, raising expectations for a positive impact on revitalizing the local economy.

According to Daejeon City on the 10th, the total issuance of Ontong Daejeon from the 1st to the 8th of this month recorded 72.9 billion won. This figure far exceeds the 64.9 billion won issued in the past month and is interpreted as influenced by the Ontong Sale event.

Ontong Sale is a local event linked to the government’s ‘2020 Korea Safe Festa’ and will continue throughout this month. During the event period, local currency users receive up to 25% cashback within the monthly purchase limit of 1 million won.

Additionally, prize events and various promotions conducted in about 60 markets, shopping districts, and alley businesses in the Daejeon area are analyzed to be increasing the usage rate of local currency among local citizens.

The city anticipates that as the use of local currency becomes more active, the effect of expanding sales in local commercial districts will also occur.

In fact, the online ‘Ontong Daejeon Mall’ has achieved results by conducting an event since the 2nd, offering half-price coupons to the first 1,000 customers, resulting in about 3,000 new sign-ups and 70 million won in sales within a week. As the issuance scale of local currency has grown, the financial circulation within the region has also increased.

Building on this momentum, the city plans to issue more than 1.3 trillion won of Ontong Daejeon next year. This is a 62.5% increase compared to 800 billion won this year, and the city expects that if related budgets increase through supplementary budgets, the issuance scale of local currency can also be expanded accordingly.

In particular, the 10% cashback is expected to be maintained continuously next year. This year, the cashback event was conducted temporarily for a set period (in an extended form), but next year, the strategy is to stabilize cashback to steadily increase the utilization rate of local currency.

To this end, the city has secured 100 billion won in national funds (for cashback operation funds).

Ko Hyun-deok, Director of the City’s Job and Economy Bureau, said, “We express our gratitude to the citizens who participated in revitalizing the local economy during Ontong Sale,” and added, “The city plans to create a dedicated organization to strengthen the policy functions of Ontong Daejeon, discussing support scale, operational methods, and improvement plans for issues.”

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