Hamyang-gun Secures Top Nationwide A Grade for Local Extinction Response Fund

Securing 21 Billion Won: Turning the Crisis of Regional Extinction into an Opportunity

Panoramic View of Hamyang-eup

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Hamyang-gun, Gyeongnam Province, has received the highest grade, A, for the local extinction response fund, which is awarded to only four local governments nationwide, securing 21 billion KRW in funding.

According to the county, as local governments across the country are fiercely competing to secure project funds for the local extinction response fund, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety reviewed the investment plans autonomously established by 89 local governments nationwide (including 11 in Gyeongnam) with poor population and financial conditions on the 16th, and based on this, prepared a fund allocation plan.

By achieving the top 4% highest grade A nationwide, the county will receive a total of 21 billion KRW in funding over two years, including 9 billion KRW this year and 12 billion KRW in 2023.

This amount is 7 billion KRW more than the local government average of 6 billion KRW in 2022, and 4 billion KRW more than the 8 billion KRW in 2023, totaling 7 billion KRW more overall, and it is a whopping 9.8 billion KRW more than the lowest grade.

Having received the highest grade A, the county expects to establish a solid foundation not only to actively respond to local extinction but also to set sail with favorable winds toward the era of a 700 billion KRW budget in the 8th elected administration and a population target of 40,000.

County Governor Jin Byeong-young said, “We will vigorously leap forward to make Hamyang-gun not a place worried about regional extinction, but a Hamyang-gun with a future and hope.”

Park Hyun-gi, Director of Innovation Strategy, said, “Since the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Korea Local Finance Association have changed the allocation amounts for 2022-2023, we will conduct internal reviews according to the allocation amounts and actively implement projects that can produce concrete results in response to population decline and the crisis of local extinction.”

Meanwhile, the local extinction response fund is a fund introduced by the government this year to assist local governments facing extinction due to population decline. It targets 89 basic local governments in population-decreasing areas and 18 areas of interest, distributing 1 trillion KRW annually for 10 years from this year through evaluations by the fund management association.

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