1.78 Million Small Business Owners to Receive Up to 20 Million Won... Support Provided Even with 10% Sales Decline

Small Business Hope Recovery Fund

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seon-hee] Hope Recovery Funds of up to 20 million KRW will be provided to small business owners who suffered sales losses due to COVID-19 quarantine measures.

On the 24th, the National Assembly passed the second supplementary budget (supplementary budget) containing a support package for small business owners affected by COVID-19. According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, after the government submitted the supplementary budget proposal, the COVID-19 situation rapidly worsened, leading to an increase of 1.4 trillion KRW in the budget for this project.

First, the Hope Recovery Fund for small business owners, which was previously capped at 9 million KRW, has been confirmed to increase to a maximum of 20 million KRW, more than double the previous amount. This applies to those with sales of 400 million KRW or more and who belong to businesses subject to gathering bans. Additionally, support funds, which were differentiated according to sales brackets, have been significantly increased.

Even if businesses were not subject to gathering bans or operational restrictions, the scope of 'business sectors in management crisis' to support small business owners whose sales declined after the COVID-19 outbreak has been expanded. Previously, only sectors with a sales decrease of 20% or more were eligible, but now sectors with a sales decrease between 10% and 20% will receive support funds of 500,000 KRW. As a result, the number of beneficiaries has increased by 550,000. When determining the sales brackets for eligibility, the more favorable sales figures between 2019 and 2020 for each small business owner can be applied.

Specific support amounts by sales scale will be announced in the project notice early next month.

Regarding small business loss compensation, which will be applied from July, the related budget has also been increased from 600 billion KRW to 1 trillion KRW due to strengthened quarantine measures such as the recent elevation to Level 4 social distancing in the metropolitan area. The government plans to immediately hold a Loss Compensation Committee on the law enforcement date, October 8, to begin the compensation process. Furthermore, if additional expenses arise, the government stated it will utilize next year’s budget and other resources to ensure smooth compensation for quarantine losses.

The government convened an extraordinary Cabinet meeting this morning to submit and approve the second supplementary budget containing these measures and plans to expedite its execution as much as possible.

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