Supplementary Budget of 15 Trillion Won Passed... Half Allocated to Small Business Owners and Self-Employed Support Funds (Comprehensive)

Budget Allocated for 4th Disaster Relief Fund Payment
21 Days Since Government Submitted to National Assembly
Includes 4.2 Trillion KRW for Quarantine and 2.5 Trillion KRW for Employment

On the 25th, the supplementary budget bill worth 15 trillion won for the 4th disaster relief fund payment is being passed in the National Assembly plenary session. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee, Sejong=Reporter Son Seonhee] The supplementary budget (supplementary budget) prepared for the payment of the 4th disaster relief fund passed the plenary session of the National Assembly on the 25th. The ruling and opposition parties held a plenary session at 8 a.m. that day and approved the supplementary budget with 242 votes in favor, 6 against, and 11 abstentions out of 259 seats present. It has been 21 days since the government submitted the supplementary budget to the National Assembly.

The National Assembly finalized 14.9392 trillion won, a net reduction of 43.7 billion won from the originally submitted supplementary budget (14.9829 trillion won). Although 1.3987 trillion won was increased, 1.4402 trillion won was cut through restructuring of the main budget expenditures.

The increased expenditure is expected to be used to support the affected groups suffering from COVID-19 and to supplement blind spots. Although the overall scale of the supplementary budget was reduced from the government's original plan, by securing more than 1 trillion won through expenditure restructuring, the final customized damage support plan increased to 20.7 trillion won from the previous plan of 19.5 trillion won.

Looking at the detailed projects, about 7.3 trillion won, nearly half of the approved supplementary budget, will be used to support small business owners and self-employed damage. In addition, 4.2 trillion won was allocated for quarantine measures, 2.5 trillion won for emergency employment measures, and 1.1 trillion won for support for vulnerable employment groups. Most of the increased amount (1.4 trillion won) during the National Assembly review process was allocated to a newly established direct loan project for small business owners, totaling 1 trillion won. Loans with an interest rate of 1.9% will be provided up to 10 million won to 100,000 small business owners in special damage industries with low credit (grade 7 or below) who have difficulty obtaining loans.

On the 25th, the supplementary budget bill worth 15 trillion won for the 4th disaster relief fund payment is being passed in the National Assembly plenary session. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

The target of the Small Business Owner Support Fund Plus, which was originally divided into five stages, was subdivided into seven stages, and the support unit price was also expanded. The management crisis general industries, which previously had a condition of '20% decrease in sales,' were subdivided into sales decrease ranges of ▲20-40% (2 million won) ▲40-60% (2.5 million won) ▲60% or more (3 million won). Income stabilization funds of 700,000 won will also be provided to about 35,000 charter bus drivers. The livelihood support fund for street vendors (50,000 won per location based on business registration), which had been controversial, was passed as per the government's original plan. A voucher of 300,000 won will be provided for small-scale farms, fisheries, and forestry management support, and a new voucher of 1 million won will be provided to 32,000 households engaged in farming, fishing, and forestry who suffered damage due to COVID-19 quarantine measures.

Meanwhile, the government will hold an emergency Cabinet meeting at 3:30 p.m. on the same day to promptly support the disaster relief fund. The Ministry of Economy and Finance stated, "We will do our best to efficiently execute major supplementary budget projects such as the Support Fund Plus and Emergency Employment Stability Subsidy so that payments can begin within this month." They plan to complete payments to 70% of the Support Fund Plus beneficiaries (3.85 million people) and 88% of the Emergency Employment Stability Subsidy beneficiaries (800,000 people) by early next month.

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