8 out of 10 Small Business Owners View With Corona Positively... Sales Recovery Still 'Pending'

Korea Federation of SMEs Surveys 603 Small Business Owners
Only 21% Plan to Hire or Seek Jobs
64% Say "Support Funds Needed for Loss Compensation-Excluded Sectors"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] Eight out of ten small business owners positively evaluated the phased daily recovery plan known as 'With Corona.'

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (Kbiz) announced the results of the 'Small Business Owners' Perception Survey on the Implementation of With Corona' on the 9th, conducted among 603 small business owners engaged in wholesale and retail, accommodation and food services, and arts, sports, and leisure-related services.

The survey showed that 58.7% of small business owners responded, "Although the rapid increase in confirmed cases is somewhat concerning, the implementation of With Corona is inevitable to maintain livelihoods."

Additionally, 22.1% expressed the opinion that "It is not a major concern, and With Corona should continue without interruption," showing that small business owners generally had a positive (80.8%) response to With Corona.

However, 62.4% of small business owners expected that sales recovery through the first phase of With Corona reform would be "less than 25%" of the average monthly sales before COVID-19, and 20.2% expected "25% or more but less than 50%." Only 21.2% of small business owners planned to hire or seek jobs.

The majority (92.8%) of small business owners in accommodation and food services, arts, sports, and leisure-related services answered that the increase rate of customer reservations during the year-end party season in November and December was less than 50% compared to the same period last year ('less than 25%' 85.4%, '25% or more but less than 50%' 7.4%).

If a surge in confirmed cases becomes a reality, the necessary measures were ranked as follows: "Partial restrictions on business hours and private gathering numbers (40.1%)," "Return to the existing social distancing system (28.7%)," and "Maintain the current With Corona policy (28.2%)."

Four out of ten small business owners (39.3%) responded that they are either implementing (27.9%) or planning to implement (11.4%) additional measures beyond the government's quarantine guidelines to prevent COVID-19.

The most needed (1st and 2nd priority) support measures for small business owners were "Payment of support funds for industries excluded from loss compensation (64.0%)," "Expansion of ultra-low interest policy funds (44.8%)," and "Extension of loan maturity and increase of limits (38.1%)."

Choo Moon-gap, head of the Economic Policy Headquarters at Kbiz, evaluated, "Although the implementation of With Corona is somewhat delayed due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and repeated social distancing, which have accumulated damage to small business owners and self-employed, it is a fortunate development."

He added, "It is necessary to have various support measures to simultaneously achieve compensation for small business owners' damages and business stability while maintaining With Corona through strict compliance with quarantine rules in daily life."

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