Daegu City Council Urges Full National Funding for 'COVID-19 Disaster Relief Fund'

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Young-wook] The Daegu City Council has urged the government to fully support disaster relief funds related to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) with national funds.

The Daegu City Council leadership announced on the 6th that they received a report from Daegu City on support for small business survival funds and the usage plan before the supplementary budget for COVID-19 disaster relief funds was established, and urged that instead of the mandatory 30% local government matching of disaster relief funds, full support should come from national funds.

The leadership agreed that to promptly address the COVID-19 damage, the government declared Daegu a special disaster area, and considering Daegu City's finances, it is a significant issue for the government to provide 300 billion KRW in disaster relief funds while mandating local government matching given Daegu City's financial reality.

On the same day, Daegu City reported a plan to support small business owners affected by decreased sales with a total project budget of 267.4 billion KRW.

Additionally, with the 300 billion KRW additionally secured through the government supplementary budget, Daegu City plans to provide support first according to criteria divided into three accounts?living stabilization, economic recovery, and damage recovery?before the approval of Daegu City's second supplementary budget (end of April).

The Daegu City Council requested that when supporting small business owners, measures be taken to ensure that facility and operating funds are smoothly provided as needed by the small business owners, and also asked for separate support plans to be prepared in the future for workers in special industries such as karaoke rooms and entertainment bars, which were excluded from this plan.

Baek Ji-sook, Chairperson of the Daegu City Council, said, "There are many complaints from citizens who fall below the criteria such as self-employed and dual-income couples in the first round of livelihood support, and inquiry calls are not connecting well," and ordered, "Strengthen publicity so that citizens' difficulties can be minimized."