Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Hong Nam-ki announced today (23rd) that it will implement measures for the livelihood of 12.7 trillion won by mobilizing excess tax revenue and the fixed budget already confirmed by the parliament.
The measures for people's livelihood include special loans with an interest rate of 1.0% for industries that are not subject to loss compensation, reduction of electricity and industrial accident insurance premiums for small businesses affected by COVID-19, and measures to stabilize prices.
Deputy Prime Minister Hong held a meeting of the Central Emergency Economy Countermeasures Headquarters today at the government complex in Seoul and said, "This livelihood measure includes 12.7 trillion won plus alpha (+α) scale to compensate for losses of small business owners and customized support for non-compensation sectors, support for the vulnerable in employment, "I will include stabilizing the price of ordinary people, reducing the burden, and providing support for care and quarantine," he said.
He said, "In the case of small businesses, we plan to provide a total of 9.4 trillion won tailored to businesses not eligible for loss compensation, such as ultra-low interest loan support. One level,” he explained.
Regarding support for businesses not eligible for loss compensation, he said, "We will supply 2 trillion won of the 'Special Loan for Daily Life Recovery' with a limit of 20 million won at the lowest interest rate ever of 1.0% for businesses with limited use of personnel and facilities."
He added, "We will expand the target of support for existing funds, such as loans for low-credit special-damaged businesses, and improve the conditions for support."
“In the case of tourism fund loans, especially for travel and accommodation businesses, we will temporarily cut interest rates on the entire 3.6 trillion won loan balance in 2022 by up to 1 percentage point, and provide support for deferment of principal repayment for one year from the time of application.” said.
Deputy Prime Minister Hong said, "We plan to reduce electricity and industrial accident insurance premiums for two months for about 940,000 companies, including 140,000 companies with reduced sales and 800,000 companies subject to loss compensation among industries with limited personnel and facilities."
The government plans to cut electricity bills by 50% and industrial accident insurance premiums by up to 200,000 won to 940,000 companies in December this year and January next year.
Deputy Prime Minister Hong said, "In response to the increase in vocational training demand, such as reinforcing 1.3 trillion won in job search benefit support and increasing the number of people eligible for the Naeil Learning Card support by about 65,000, raising the unit price of energy vouchers for low-income families to 118,000 won, etc. We will support the relief of the burden on the common people with a scale of 1.4 trillion won,” he said.
He said, "We support the stabilization of living prices by expanding financial support for contract cultivation of vegetables, etc. 500 billion won was reflected in measures for people's livelihood," he emphasized.
Deputy Prime Minister Hong also explained how to use the excess tax revenue of 19 trillion won.
“Excluding 7.6 trillion won from grants, which accounts for about 40 percent of the 19 trillion won in excess tax revenue, 5.3 trillion won of the remaining 11 to 12 trillion won will be used to support small business owners and the vulnerable, and 2.5 trillion won will be used for support,” he said. “We plan to use it to reduce the amount of government bonds for the sake of stability in the government bond market and fiscal soundness,” he said.
(Photo = Yonhap News)