Jungjingong Supports 6.29 Trillion KRW in Policy Funds Last Year Through Proactive Administration

Establishing a Non-Face-to-Face Support System... Rapid Liquidity Supply to Crisis Companies
High-Risk Gathering Ban/Restricted Facilities, Service Industry, etc... Strengthening On-Site Customized Support

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Small and Medium Business Corporation (Chairman Kim Hak-do, hereinafter referred to as SBC) announced on the 21st that it is supporting the rapid overcoming of the COVID-19 crisis by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and venture companies through proactive administration, including the expansion of policy funds and the establishment of a non-face-to-face support system.

Last year, to resolve the financial difficulties of SMEs caused by weakened consumer sentiment and deteriorating business conditions, policy fund support was significantly expanded. From the original policy fund budget of 4.59 trillion KRW, an additional 1.7 trillion KRW was secured through five rounds of fund changes and supplementary budgets, providing a record-high total of 6.29 trillion KRW to companies on the ground.

Support was provided to a total of 24,407 companies, and especially, 7745 crisis-hit companies affected by COVID-19 were swiftly supported with 1.3 trillion KRW in emergency management stabilization funds, fulfilling the role of social safety net through policy finance.

Efforts were also actively made to improve the support system for rapid fund supply. The previously face-to-face preliminary consultations and on-site surveys were fully replaced with non-face-to-face methods. Additionally, the 'Ambulance Man System,' where experts with extensive experience in policy fund screening provide one-stop service until loan decisions, was operated, and the Hi-Pass screening, which supports based on documents without on-site inspections, was expanded.

Through these measures, the total time from policy fund application to support was reduced from 16.0 days in 2019 to 11.9 days in 2020, and for emergency management stabilization funds, from 10.2 days in 2019 to 5.8 days in 2020, shortening the period by more than 4 days.

Furthermore, on-site customized support for companies affected by COVID-19 was strengthened. Support for the cultural content industry and high-risk facilities subject to gathering bans and restrictions was expanded, increasing the service sector support ratio by 5 percentage points compared to 2019. Companies operating in gathering ban and restricted facility industries are preferentially supported with a fixed interest rate of 1.9%, and rapid support is provided without separate evaluation through the COVID-19 Hi-Pass method.

SBC plans to enhance the performance of policy fund support by expanding liquidity supply to affected companies and introducing AI evaluation models using big data for selective support of excellent SMEs.

Chairman Kim Hak-do said, "SBC has been running breathlessly to help SMEs and venture companies overcome the unprecedented crisis caused by COVID-19 last year," adding, "This year, we will expand the budget to 5.4 trillion KRW, an 18% increase compared to the original budget last year, and quickly supply liquidity where policy funds are needed to become a reliable support for SMEs and venture companies."

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