"Local Prices Well Managed in First Half of Year"... Pohang City Selected as 'Best Institution'

Ministry of the Interior and Safety Selected for Local Price Stability Management Evaluation

Revitalizing the Livelihood Economy with Citizen-Centered Policies

Stabilizing Personal Service Fees Including Good Price Businesses

Pohang City is enjoying a “pleasant benefit” by being recognized as an excellent institution in the local price stabilization management sector and receiving special grants.

This year, Pohang City was selected as the “best” institution in the first half evaluation of local price stabilization management performance conducted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety among 243 local governments nationwide, and will receive a special grant of 150 million KRW as a financial incentive.

The evaluation was conducted through a comprehensive assessment including quantitative and qualitative evaluations of policy projects for local price stabilization such as △stabilization management of local public utility charges △support for Good Price Stores △stabilization of personal service fees.

Pohang City received high marks for actively implementing policies for local small business owners to overcome the prolonged economic crisis caused by typhoon damage, high interest rates, high prices, and high exchange rates, by fostering a price stabilization atmosphere, recovering the domestic economy, and promoting consumption.

First, Pohang City froze water supply fees, bus fares, and garbage bag fees to stabilize public utility charges directly related to citizens’ lives. The sewerage fee, which was scheduled to increase in the second half of the year, was also decided to be frozen this year.

In addition, to alleviate the increasing burden of public utility charges, Pohang City provided reductions in water and sewerage fees to vulnerable groups, exemplary food hygiene establishments, Good Price Stores, and small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners.

At the beginning of the year, Pohang City proactively held a city-wide countermeasure meeting to foster public consensus on the price situation among private and related organizations, spreading a participatory atmosphere among citizens. Various customized support projects such as special guarantees and interest subsidies were also promoted to help small business owners struggling with rising raw material costs.

In May, Pohang City held the large-scale promotional event “Korea Together Festival” in cooperation with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to support sales channels for small business owners and create a consumption promotion atmosphere, receiving a positive response.

Pohang City plans to continue implementing various policies for price stabilization and revitalization of the local economy in the second half of the year. To create an environment where about 80,000 small business owners can operate stably, support projects such as special guarantees for small business owners, card fee support, employment insurance premium support, and Pohang Excellent Products Ontact Business Support Project will be promoted to revitalize the domestic economy.

The city will focus on the stable management of personal service fees, which have a high citizen perception. The number of Good Price Stores, currently 151, will be significantly expanded with a goal of designating 200 stores through continuous discovery. By strengthening incentive support and intensive promotion, the activation of Good Price Stores will be encouraged to actively induce voluntary price reductions.

Also, in preparation for the summer vacation season, Pohang City will establish price stabilization measures for vacation spots, continuing efforts to stabilize prices through regular monitoring by price stabilization inspection teams, price tag inspections, and price stabilization campaigns to eradicate overcharging.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok of Pohang City emphasized, “We will focus more administrative power in the second half of the year to discover various policies for local price stabilization and to restore vitality to small business owners, the foundation of the local economy, through the recovery of neighborhood commercial districts.”

Pohang City Hall.

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