Incheon to Provide 200 Billion Won in Loan Interest Support for SMEs in Response to Prolonged Middle East Crisis

The Incheon Metropolitan Government announced on May 14 that it will provide a total of 200 billion won in interest subsidy funds to support local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) experiencing management difficulties due to the prolonged Middle East crisis.

This program offers SMEs that have received loans from financial institutions an interest subsidy ranging from 0.5 percentage points up to a maximum of 2 percentage points. Applications for support can be submitted starting May 19 and will be accepted until the funds are exhausted.

Applications can be submitted online through Incheon's SME support system, 'BizOK'.

Incheon City Hall

Since March, the city has been providing 50 billion won in emergency management stabilization funds to companies directly affected by the Middle East crisis.

Initially, the support focused on easing difficulties at export sites and was limited to export companies. However, as the impact of supply disruptions of raw and subsidiary materials from the Middle East became evident, the scope of support was expanded last month to include import companies as well.

Furthermore, with signs that the economic downturn caused by the prolonged war in the Middle East is spreading to general SMEs, the city decided to advance the schedule for the management stabilization fund support, which was originally planned for the second half of the year, and to expedite financial support for general SMEs.

An official from the Incheon Metropolitan Government stated, "Due to the prolonged war in the Middle East and the global economic slowdown, management uncertainty is increasing for local companies," adding, "We will do our utmost to provide swift financial support so that companies do not have to reduce production and employment due to funding shortages."

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