Chungnam: "Local Currency Issuance Grows 30-Fold... Economic Impact 3.5 Trillion Won"

[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The scale of local currency issuance by Chungnam Province has shown a growth rate approaching 30 times over the past four years. The economic effect resulting from the issuance of local currency is also analyzed to reach 3.5 trillion KRW.

According to the province and Chungnam Research Institute on the 30th, the analysis of the ripple effect and big data of local currency shows that last year's local currency issuance amounted to a total of 1.4056 trillion KRW, which is 29.7 times more than the 47.3 billion KRW in 2019 when local currency was introduced. Last year, the scale of local currency issuance also increased 1.9 times compared to 2020 (730.6 billion KRW).

The increase in the scale of local currency issuance was mainly due to the sharp rise in users. In fact, the number of local currency users in Chungnam was 564,535, accounting for 26.6% of the total population of 2,119,257 and 30.5% of the economically active population of 1,853,685 at the end of last year.

The gender distribution of local currency users was almost equal, with males at 49.5% and females at 49.1%. By age group, those in their 40s accounted for the largest share at 25.1%, followed by those in their 50s at 19.4%, 30s at 18.8%, and 60s at 15.3%.

Last year, the total amount of local currency purchased was 1.2971 trillion KRW, with individuals purchasing 1.1872 trillion KRW (91.5%) of local currency, overwhelmingly surpassing corporations (8.5%).

The total payment amount was 1.2912 trillion KRW, with electronic payments (69.1%) exceeding paper payments (30.9%).

The main usage sectors of local currency were retail (54.7%), food service (17.5%), and educational services (7.6%). The proportion of affiliated stores was also highest in retail (31.4%), followed by food service (27.2%) and educational services (14.2%).

In particular, the province estimated the economic ripple effect (production inducement amount + value-added inducement amount) from local currency issuance at a total of 3.5794 trillion KRW. By sector, the production inducement amount was 2.4968 trillion KRW, and the value-added inducement amount was 1.0828 trillion KRW.

This year, the province aims to issue local currency worth 1.0167 trillion KRW. As of the end of last month, 261.8 billion KRW worth of local currency has been issued.

A provincial official stated, “Local currency is analyzed to help mitigate the outflow of regional income and contribute to establishing a virtuous cycle system in the regional economy.”

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