Jinju-si Accelerates Economic Recovery by Supporting SMEs and Small Business Owners

Jinju-type Delivery App Launch, Jinju Sarang Gift Certificate Expanded by 25 Billion
Industrial Complex Innovation Support Center, Construction of Complex Cultural Center

Jinju City Economic and Trade Bureau is holding a policy briefing session.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] On the 18th at 2 p.m., the Economic and Trade Bureau of Jinju City, Gyeongnam Province, held a briefing session on major policies at the city hall briefing room.

Kim Byung-moo, head of the Economic and Trade Bureau, explained the major policies the city is promoting, including ▲launching the Jinju-type delivery app, ▲expanding the issuance of Jinju Love Gift Certificates, and ▲constructing the Industrial Complex Innovation Support Center and the Complex Cultural Center.

The Jinju-type delivery app plans to reduce the brokerage fee from the existing 6?12% to 2%, and by linking it with the mobile Jinju Love Gift Certificates, it aims to ease the management burden of local small business owners who have been stagnated since COVID-19 and accelerate the recovery of the local economy through revitalizing the circulation of local currency.

The Jinju Love Gift Certificates protect small business owners by preventing the outflow of funds outside the region and have a significant effect on revitalizing the local economy, having issued 8 billion KRW last year.

This year, to activate non-face-to-face payments and link with the Jinju-type delivery app, the city will issue a total of 25 billion KRW in Jinju Love Gift Certificates: 6 billion KRW in paper certificates and 19 billion KRW in mobile certificates. Paper certificates can be purchased up to 300,000 KRW per person per month at nearby NongHyup branches with an ID card.

The city is promoting the construction of the Sangpyeong Industrial Complex Innovation Support Center and Complex Cultural Center to strengthen the competitiveness of the aging Sangpyeong Industrial Complex and to promote industry upgrading, accelerating support for small and medium-sized enterprises.

This project was selected in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s contest for restructuring and upgrading of old industrial complexes during the 7th local government term, with a total project cost of 13.6 billion KRW, including 6.6 billion KRW in national funds and 7 billion KRW in city funds. It is scheduled to be completed in 2022 on a 3,674㎡ site with one basement floor and four above-ground floors, totaling 5,986㎡ in floor area.

The Innovation Support Center will serve as a corporate support control tower that promptly supports on-site difficulties of small and medium-sized enterprises through industry upgrading to new materials such as aviation and ceramics, operation of the Western Gyeongnam advanced machinery mini-cluster, and formation of a business support group.

The Complex Cultural Center will support various club activities to create a lively workplace atmosphere through regular performances, operation of a small library to spread reading culture, and fostering empathy among industrial complex workers so that they can enjoy a cultural life.

The city expects that by constructing the Innovation Support Center and Complex Cultural Center, the aging Sangpyeong Industrial Complex will be reorganized into a new materials industry, and the influx of young people will enhance the vitality of the corporate economy.

Kim Byung-moo, head of the Economic and Trade Bureau, stated, “The city has been striving to revive the local economy severely hit by COVID-19 over the past year, and we expect that the projects being promoted this time will become a driving force to make small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners thrive again.”

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