Pohang City Holds Meeting with Financial Institution Leaders to Quickly Support Small Business Owners Affected by Typhoon!

Requests for Various Financial Support Measures to Help Small Businesses and Small Merchants Recover from Typhoon Damage

Consensus on the Need for Comprehensive Support for Small Merchants Amid Current Challenges Like COVID-19 and High Inflation

Pohang City held a meeting with representatives of financial institutions to provide prompt support to small business owners affected by the typhoon. (Lee Kang-deok, Mayor of Pohang (ninth from the left), and Lee Yoon-sung, Head of the Bank of Korea Headquarters (eighth from the left), along with 16 representatives from local financial institutions, attended the meeting and took a commemorative photo)

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] On the 25th, Pohang City and the Pohang Branch of the Bank of Korea held a ‘Regional Financial Institution Representatives Meeting’ at City Hall to support small business owners affected by COVID-19 and Typhoon ‘Hinnamno’ and to promote a stable return to daily life.

The meeting was attended by about 10 representatives of financial institutions in the Pohang area, including Mayor Kang-deok Lee of Pohang, Yoon-sung Lee, head of the Bank of Korea Pohang Branch, and Seok-gu Kang, head of Hana Bank Regional Headquarters, to discuss economic issues in the Pohang region.

Small business owners and companies in the Pohang area suffered enormous damage due to record-breaking heavy rainfall (374.5 mm), which greatly exceeded the 500-year frequency probable rainfall (189.6 mm in 4 hours) since weather observations began in the region during Typhoon ‘Hinnamno’ last September. In addition, they are going through a difficult time due to the three highs of COVID-19, high interest rates, high prices, and high exchange rates.

Accordingly, at this meeting, time was spent sharing various support measures such as the disbursement of disaster relief funds for rapid damage support, proposals to designate the region for preemptive response to industrial crises, support for interest subsidy payments to stabilize prices for small business owners, and expansion of good price stores.

The Bank of Korea Pohang Branch reported through a briefing on the current difficult local economic trends and major issues that the status of companies in the metal products and transportation equipment industries is deteriorating significantly, and that the real estate market is also a concern as unsold properties continue to increase due to high interest rates.

As the current economic situation is expected to continue for the time being, the regional financial institutions agreed on the need for comprehensive support for the stable recovery of small business owners and SMEs from both financial and real economy policy perspectives.

At this meeting, the city requested the representatives of regional financial institutions to ▲ease the full guarantee screening conditions when reviewing loans for small business owners affected by typhoon damage ▲lower the interest rates on special guarantee loans below the contracted rates ▲and promote Pohang City’s interest support for the shortfall in interest subsidy payments by the Gyeongbuk Credit Guarantee Foundation.

Mayor Kang-deok Lee said, “In the severe domestic and international economic situation including COVID-19, the Ukraine crisis, and the US Inflation Reduction Act, the Bank of Korea’s interest rate hikes have dealt a serious blow to the economic activities of small business owners in the region,” and added, “I ask the representatives of financial institutions such as commercial banks to consider this situation and provide full support as a way to share the pain.”

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