Gangwon-do to Support Small Business Owners with 'Business Stabilization Fund' Starting February

120 Billion KRW Scale 'Small Business Management Stabilization Fund Business Agreement'

Gangwon Provincial Government

[Asia Economy Reporter Ra Young-cheol] Gangwon Province will support small business owners with management stabilization funds starting this month through a business agreement with commercial financial institutions and the Credit Guarantee Foundation.

The province announced on the 1st, "To help small business owners overcome management crises due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, we held the 'Small Business Management Stabilization Fund Business Agreement Signing' at the small conference room of the new government building on the 1st, with a fund size of 120 billion KRW."

The management stabilization fund is contributed with 3.2 billion KRW from five banks (NongHyup 1.2 billion KRW, Shinhan Bank 800 million KRW, Kookmin Bank 500 million KRW, Woori Bank 500 million KRW, Hana Bank 200 million KRW), and the Gangwon Credit Guarantee Foundation provides 120 billion KRW in guarantee resources to support credit guarantees.

The province supports a 2% loan interest rate for two years, enabling the use of low-interest loans at 1~1.5%. Especially this year, the guarantee fee is fully supported to minimize financial cost burdens. The guarantee fee support rate increased from 50% last year to 100% this year.

Any small business owner with a business place in the province and registered as a business operator can use the management stabilization fund. Small business owners lacking collateral can receive unsecured credit loans with credit guarantees from commercial banks. The maximum loan amount per company is 50 million KRW, with a 2-year grace period and 3-year repayment period, and early repayment fees during the loan period are also waived.

Additionally, since last year, the province has been operating a dedicated fund for low-credit (formerly credit grades 8~10) small business owners who use high-interest loans.

With a provincial fund contribution of 1 billion KRW, a total of 3 billion KRW has been raised, providing the same interest subsidy (2% for 2 years) and guarantee fee support as the existing management stabilization fund benefits. In particular, using the provincial policy fund is expected to have the effect of improving credit ratings.

Woo Byung-ryul, Deputy Governor for Economic Affairs, stated, "As social distancing measures continue for a long time, especially with the increasing damage to small business owners, who play a vital role in the local economy, we will do our best to alleviate their difficulties even a little."

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