Lee Jae-myung's 'Youth Basic Loan and Rural Basic Income' to be Implemented from Next Year

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The 'Youth Basic Finance Project' and the 'Rural Basic Income Pilot Project,' key initiatives of Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, will be implemented in Gyeonggi Province starting next year.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Council held a plenary session on the 12th and passed the 'Ordinance on Support for Youth Basic Finance in Gyeonggi Province' and the 'Ordinance on the Rural Basic Income Pilot Project in Gyeonggi Province,' respectively.

The Youth Basic Finance Support Ordinance includes the legal basis necessary to implement the 'Basic Loan,' which lends up to 5 million KRW per person to youths aged 25 to 34 in the province, and the 'Basic Savings' project, which provides incentives for saving a certain amount.

Among these, the Basic Loan is a policy that provides loans at an interest rate lower than the average rate of commercial banks regardless of the youth's income or assets. The repayment period is expected to be 10 years, with an interest rate set within 3% per annum.

The province has set the supply scale of Basic Loans provided by financial institutions participating in the first year of implementation at 1 trillion KRW, and estimates that 50 billion KRW from the provincial budget will be needed as loss guarantee funds to be provided to the financial institutions if loan repayments are not made.

The target beneficiaries of the Basic Loan in the first year, next year, are 1.82 million youths aged 25 to 34 in the province, and it is expected that 200,000 of them, or 11%, will use the Basic Loan product.

On the same day, the Provincial Council also passed the ordinance on the Rural Basic Income Pilot Project.

This ordinance aims to revitalize the economy of rural areas, where regional extinction is a concern, by providing rural basic income to residents living in myeon (township) areas.

The province will start recruiting pilot villages in 26 rural myeon areas next month, select the target myeon within the year, and implement the project from January next year.

The Rural Basic Income will be paid in local currency to about 4,000 actual residents of one pilot myeon village, regardless of their occupation or assets, at 150,000 KRW per person per month (1.8 million KRW annually) for five years.

Residents receiving the Youth Basic Income and the Rural Basic Income cannot receive both benefits simultaneously.

The required funds will be shared by the province and the respective city or county at a 7 to 3 ratio, with a plan to pay 5.3 billion KRW (provincial + city/county funds) in the first year of implementation.

On the same day, the Provincial Council also approved the extension of the activity period for the 'Special Committee on Response to the Discharge of Radioactive Contaminated Water from Fukushima, Japan' and the 'Special Committee on Improvement of Toll Fees for Private Roads such as Ilsan Bridge.'

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