SME Policy Funds Expanded by 380 Billion Won

Emergency Policy Funds for Liquidity Support

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Lee Young, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) announced that from the 25th, it will expand the supply of SME policy funds worth 380 billion KRW. The Ministry plans to provide additional funds to resolve management difficulties of nuclear power plant cooperating SMEs and to promote overseas exports, addressing the financial difficulties of SMEs caused by ongoing uncertainties in the domestic and international economy such as the Ukraine crisis and rising raw material prices. The detailed projects for the additional SME policy funds include three categories: Emergency Management Stabilization Fund, Export Enterprise Globalization Fund, and Innovation Growth Support Fund.

First, the Emergency Management Stabilization Fund will be increased from the existing 200 billion KRW to 360 billion KRW. It is explained that 160 billion KRW will be additionally allocated to supply working capital to support SMEs temporarily facing difficulties due to the ongoing Ukraine crisis, rising raw material prices, and to normalize the management of nuclear power plant cooperating SMEs. The loan limit is up to 1 billion KRW per year, and the loan period is 5 years.

The Export Enterprise Globalization Fund will be expanded from the existing 250 billion KRW to 380 billion KRW. This is to revitalize the export industry facing difficult external conditions such as increased logistics costs and energy and raw material inflation. Funds will be supplied to promising export SMEs with export performance exceeding 100,000 USD. For facility funds, the loan limit is up to 2 billion KRW per year, and the loan period is 10 years.

The Innovation Growth Support Fund has reached 990 billion KRW. This fund mainly supports facility investment necessary to enhance competitiveness such as productivity improvement and high value-added transformation for promising SMEs with more than 7 years of business experience. Through this budget increase, 90 billion KRW will be additionally raised. The purpose is to assist facility investments of nuclear power plant cooperating SMEs and SMEs in new industry sectors and to support resolving difficulties caused by rising facility investment costs. The support limit for facility funds is up to 6 billion KRW, and for working capital, up to 500 million KRW is supported as initial operating costs after the facility fund loan.

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