'E-gye'... Disaster Relief Fund Donations Missed Expectations

One Month After Distribution, 99.3% of All Households Received Funds…Government Displeased with Low Donation Performance

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Lee Kwang-ho] It has been one month since the government distributed emergency disaster relief funds to the entire population. While the program is generally evaluated to have stimulated consumption, the donation performance appears to be lower than expected, creating an embarrassing situation for the government that had encouraged donations. This is because President Moon Jae-in personally urged donations and even sparked controversy over government-led donation campaigns, yet the results are expected to be underwhelming. Especially as calls from the political sphere and the public for a second round of disaster relief funds grow louder, the government finds itself in a difficult position. Although it has stated that "additional payments are not being considered at all" due to concerns over fiscal soundness, there is analysis that if the Blue House and the ruling party request it, a second payment could be made, as there was opposition to the first round of universal payments.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on the 5th, from the 4th of last month to the 4th of this month, 21.56 million households received disaster relief funds, with a total payment amount of 13.5648 trillion won. This means that 99.3% of the total 21.71 million eligible households received the funds. Of the total budget of 14.2448 trillion won, 95.2% has been disbursed. There are still 150,000 households that have not received the emergency disaster relief funds. The remaining amount is 68 million won.

The unpaid portion is estimated to include amounts donated instead of receiving the relief funds, as well as cases where objections are being processed or where residents have not applied or received funds due to reasons such as unregistered residence or mobility difficulties. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to complete the processing of objections and maximize the distribution of emergency disaster relief funds through home visits for applications targeting the elderly and disabled.

Applications for disaster relief funds via credit or debit card recharge methods will be accepted through each card company’s website and affiliated bank branches until today. Applications for local gift certificates and prepaid cards through town and township community centers will continue to be accepted thereafter.

The government is showing concern over the low donation performance. Accordingly, a gag order has been issued to credit card companies and others to "strictly keep donation records confidential." Until now, the government had hoped that if 10-20% of the disaster relief funds were donated, about 1.4 to 2.8 trillion won could be collected and used as resources for the employment insurance fund, which is struggling with deficits. However, this calculation is expected to fall through.