60 Billion KRW to Be Distributed to Busan Small Business Owners... All-In on Support for Overcoming Damage Following Social Distancing Lift

Busan City, Six Major Banks, and Busan Credit Guarantee Foundation Establish Special Funds for Business Stability

From 2.5 Trillion KRW Starting 25th → 100 Billion KRW for May Rent → 50 Billion KRW for September Policy Funds

Attendees of the Agreement Ceremony. (From left) ▲ Kim Seung-mo, Chairman of Busan Credit Guarantee Foundation ▲ Kim Seung-rok, Head of Shinhan Bank Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Regional Headquarters ▲ Lee Hyo-hwan, Regional Group Leader of Woori Bank Gyeongnam Regional Headquarters ▲ An Gam-chan, President of Busan Bank ▲ Park Hyung-joon, Mayor of Busan ▲ Lee Hyuk, KB Kookmin Bank Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Regional Group Representative ▲ Lee Byung-jik, Senior Head of Hana Bank Headquarters ▲ Jung Byung-gyu, Head of NongHyup Bank Busan Sales Headquarters

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] In line with the easing of COVID-19 social distancing measures, Busan City is taking steps to help small business owners recover their management.

Busan City and the Busan Credit Guarantee Foundation signed a business agreement on the 22nd with commercial banks to support the recovery of daily management for small business owners.

The six banks involved in the agreement are Busan Bank, Kookmin Bank, Woori Bank, Hana Bank, Shinhan Bank, and Nonghyup Bank.

Busan City and the six banks will contribute 15.6 billion KRW to the Busan Credit Guarantee Foundation, and through guarantees of 85% to 100% by the foundation, commercial banks will provide loans totaling approximately 600 billion KRW to local small business owners. The city will support interest payments amounting to 10.7 billion KRW (0.8% to 1.7% of the loan interest rate).

The special fund of 600 billion KRW for small business owners will be gradually released starting from the 25th to ease the financial difficulties of small business owners.

The first phase of support, starting on the 25th, is a management stabilization fund for small business owners, totaling 450 billion KRW.

Small business owners with a credit score of 595 or higher can apply for loans at the six banks within a limit of 100 million KRW, choosing repayment conditions such as a 3-year maturity lump-sum repayment, 5-year installment repayment, or 2-year grace period followed by 3-year installment repayment.

They can receive interest support of 0.8% of the loan interest rate during the repayment period, and companies established less than 3 years ago will receive interest support of 1.7% of the loan interest rate for the first year after loan execution.

Port logistics companies will receive interest support of 1.5% of the loan interest rate up to 20 million KRW per company, providing benefits to small business owners excluded from government disaster support, burdened by increased fuel costs, and facing credit risks due to high-interest installment loans from secondary financial institutions.

The second phase of funding, amounting to 100 billion KRW, will be provided in May to support small business owners' rent, and in September, 50 billion KRW will be allocated for digital transformation policy funds.

Park Hyung-jun, Mayor of Busan, stated, “Although social distancing has been eased, the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has continuously worsened the business environment, and recent base rate hikes have caused liquidity crises, making rapid business recovery difficult. We will spare no effort to support the recovery of small business owners, including this 600 billion KRW support.”

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