Government "Reviewing Extension of Debt Maturity and Interest Payment Deferral in September"

42nd Emergency Economic Central Countermeasures Headquarters Meeting

Support Measures Announced in August Including Second Half Tax and Social Insurance Payment Deferrals
Fostering 3,000 Small Business Subscription Economy Participants by Next Year
Supporting SMEs with Data Backup and Ransomware Solutions by Next Year

Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, presides over and speaks at the "42nd Emergency Economic Central Countermeasures Headquarters Meeting" at the Government Seoul Office Building on the morning of the 5th. (Photo by Ministry of Economy and Finance)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government will review next month whether to extend financial support measures such as the extension of debt maturities and interest repayment deferrals in the financial sector, which are currently set to expire at the end of next month.

On the morning of the 5th, Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, held an Emergency Economic Central Countermeasures Headquarters meeting at the Government Seoul Office and announced additional support measures for small business owners to overcome the COVID-19 crisis.

He stated the goal of simultaneously achieving both quarantine and economic recovery. Plans are in place to accelerate the support speed of the second supplementary budget along with quarantine control in August and September. Of the 3.4 trillion KRW budget for vaccine and quarantine reinforcement in the second supplementary budget, 70% will be swiftly executed by the end of next month. An additional 3.3 billion KRW in national funds and 4.24 billion KRW in special grants will be provided for temporary screening clinics.

Among the second supplementary budget, the government intends to steadily implement the "three-package COVID-19 damage support" including the Small Business Hope Recovery Fund, the Win-Win National Support Fund, and the Win-Win Consumption Support Fund. The Hope Recovery Fund and Win-Win National Support Fund will be 90% executed by the end of next month.

The government also plans to review next month whether to extend financial support measures such as maturity extensions and interest repayment deferrals. Within this month, support measures such as deferrals of tax payments for the second half of the year and social insurance premium payments will be reviewed and announced. Additional reviews will be conducted on tax support such as extensions of deadlines for comprehensive income tax and value-added tax payments, deferrals and exceptions for social insurance premiums including employment, industrial accident insurance, and national pension, as well as deferrals of utility payments such as electricity and city gas bills, with support plans to be announced within this month.

By next year, the government aims to nurture 3,000 small business subscription economy participant companies to support digital market development and income stabilization. Subscription economy model types such as meal kit models will be presented, and new platform vouchers will be introduced to provide customized support for private shopping mall entry and sales costs, logistics costs, and subscription product package development.

Additionally, support will be provided for small and medium-sized enterprises regarding data backup, security, vaccines, and ransomware-related solutions. From next year, plans will be promoted to establish backup and recovery measures for major information and communication infrastructure. Using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as network traffic analysis, real-time detection and blocking of malicious domains will be implemented, and ransomware vaccines will be rapidly distributed. Ransomware refers to malicious code that encrypts victims' data through hacking and demands money as a ransom to decrypt it.

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