Gwangju Chamber of Commerce Provides 'Financial Support' to Companies Amid COVID-19 Crisis

Gwangju Chamber of Commerce and Industry building.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Jin-Hyung Park] The Gwangju Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Chairman Chang-Seon Jeong) has raised the interest subsidy rate for its financial support program targeting member companies struggling due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

They plan to offer up to 2% interest reduction benefits, with a maximum of 100 million KRW per company, to stabilize the management of member companies affected by COVID-19.

Since 2016, the Gwangju Chamber of Commerce has signed agreements with Gwangju Bank, IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, KB Kookmin Bank, and others, leading efforts to alleviate funding difficulties and reduce financial costs for member companies through an annual 16 billion KRW financial support program.

All interest generated from deposits held by the Gwangju Chamber is used to support loan interest for member companies, enabling them to receive interest reduction benefits of around 1% within a maximum limit of 300 million KRW.

However, as the damage to member companies has increased due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the Chamber has decided to inject additional funds to expand the scale of financial support.

Accordingly, member companies whose sales have decreased due to COVID-19 and who receive new loans through the Chamber’s interest subsidy program will receive an additional 1% support on top of the original 1%, allowing benefits up to 4 million KRW.

Furthermore, member companies that have received new loans through government and local government interest subsidy programs or loans from financial institutions including secondary financial sectors will receive up to 2% support within a 100 million KRW limit, resulting in interest reduction benefits up to 2 million KRW.

Choi Jong-Man, the full-time vice chairman of the Gwangju Chamber of Commerce, said, "As the difficulties of small and medium-sized enterprises continue due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, we hope this financial support program will be of some help," adding, "We will continue to actively promote various support activities to enhance the competitiveness of local companies."

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