Daejeon 'Daedeok e-Ro-um' Plays Key Role in Balancing Consumption Between New and Old Downtown Areas

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] ‘Daedeok e-Roum’ is analyzed to play a buffering role in the consumption concentration between the new and old downtown areas in Daejeon. Daedeok e-Roum is a local currency issued by the Daedeok District Office in Daejeon, distinguished from ‘Ontong Daejeon’ issued by Daejeon City.

According to Daedeok District on the 17th, the issuance amount of the local currency Daedeok e-Roum is expected to reach 100 billion KRW this year.

Daedeok e-Roum was first launched in Daejeon in July last year, with an issuance scale of 16 billion KRW. This year, the target was 30 billion KRW, but as of the 15th of this month, the actual issuance amount is counted at 80.7 billion KRW, and it is expected that the final issuance will be around 100 billion KRW within the year. This means the annual target issuance scale has been exceeded by more than three times.

Daedeok e-Roum was the first among 230 local currencies issued by local governments nationwide to receive the National Representative Brand Award in June, and in September, it was honored to receive the Policy Award for the first time among local currencies from the Korean Association for Policy Studies, the top policy research academic society in Korea.

In particular, recently, Daedeok e-Roum has been shown to play a role in alleviating the consumption concentration phenomenon between the old downtown and new downtown autonomous districts in Daejeon, which adds significance.

For example, the local currency ‘Ontong Daejeon’ issued by Daejeon City showed a usage ratio of 29% in the old downtown (Dong-gu, Jung-gu, Daedeok-gu) and 71% in the new downtown (Seo-gu, Yuseong-gu) from May to October, highlighting consumption concentration centered on the new downtown.

However, when the usage amounts of Ontong Daejeon and Daedeok e-Roum are combined, the usage ratio of local currency is 34% in the old downtown and 66% in the new downtown, showing a somewhat alleviated consumption concentration phenomenon.

While the use of Ontong Daejeon was mainly concentrated in the new downtown, the activation of Daedeok e-Roum, which can only be used within Daedeok-gu, has eased the usage ratio of local currencies between the new and old downtowns by 5 percentage points.

Above all, it is noteworthy that despite Daedeok-gu being the smallest in economic scale among the five autonomous districts of Daejeon in terms of population and the number of small business stores, the total usage amount of local currency doubled compared to when only Ontong Daejeon was used due to the issuance of Daedeok e-Roum.

Based on this, Daedeok-gu emphasizes that if Daedeok e-Roum had not been issued, Daedeok-gu would have had the lowest local currency usage amount, which would have deepened the consumption concentration phenomenon between the new and old downtowns.

Park Jeong-hyun, head of Daedeok District Office, said, “Daedeok e-Roum has effectively increased small business sales and alleviated the consumption concentration phenomenon between the old and new downtowns even amid the COVID-19 situation,” and added, “Daedeok-gu will continue to focus its policy capabilities to strengthen the local community through Daedeok e-Roum and solve various pending issues such as the Green New Deal.”

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