Jinju City Increases Loan Scale for Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund by 80 Billion Won

Per-Company Limit Raised from 700 Million to 900 Million KRW; Disaster-Affected Companies Supported up to 1.1 Billion KRW

Jinju City Hall exterior view.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Jinju City, Gyeongnam Province, announced on the 13th that it will expand support for the 2022 Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Development Fund to 80 billion KRW, an increase of 5 billion KRW compared to the previous year, to stabilize management and alleviate financial burdens for SMEs facing financial difficulties due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

The SME Development Fund support will increase the loan limit per company from a maximum of 700 million KRW to 900 million KRW this year. For companies whose annual sales have decreased by more than 10% due to COVID-19, support will be provided up to 1.1 billion KRW.

The SME Development Fund is a project in which Jinju City compensates part of the bank loan interest for local SMEs to stabilize management and revitalize the economy, which has been contracted due to COVID-19 and other factors. The general fund supports up to a 2% interest difference compensation rate, and the preferential fund supports up to 3%.

The support targets are SMEs with headquarters and business sites in Jinju City, registered factories, with a manufacturing employment rate of 30% or more, including manufacturing and handicraft production companies.

A city official said, "We expect that the increase in the SME Development Fund limit will help local SMEs struggling due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic," and added, "We will continue to do our best to resolve the difficulties of SMEs."

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