Focusing on Alleviating Small Business Management Difficulties and Supporting Online Expansion to Revitalize the Domestic Economy
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that the 2021 budget was finalized at 16.8 trillion won, a decrease of 525.3 billion won compared to the government proposal, after approval by the National Assembly plenary session on the 2nd. This represents a 26% (3.46 trillion won) increase compared to the 2020 main budget (13.4 trillion won).
The 2021 budget of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is focused on revitalizing the domestic economy, which has been contracted due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.
To stabilize the management of small business owners, 3 trillion won was reflected as a purpose reserve fund for customized damage support resources in response to the third wave of COVID-19. Budgets for the Korea Together Sale to revitalize the domestic economy, support for small business owners' online market entry, and traditional market specialization were also increased.
To successfully promote the Korean New Deal, 400 billion won will be invested aiming to raise 1 trillion won for the 2021 Smart Korea Fund, which will be expanded to a total of 6 trillion won by 2025. To ensure the transition to a carbon-neutral society and economy and to steadily achieve the 2050 carbon neutrality goal, budgets were expanded for projects such as the Green Startup Town creation and the Green New Deal promising company cultivation project 100. During the National Assembly budget review process, funding (loans) for Net-Zero promising companies was newly established.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups' major budget allocations for 2021 are ▲ 2.1 trillion won for building smart manufacturing infrastructure to become a global digital powerhouse ▲ 1.6 trillion won for fostering innovative ventures and startups in the non-face-to-face sector ▲ 1.1 trillion won for revitalizing regional economies and neighborhood commercial districts ▲ 270.3 billion won for expanding the national representative Brand K and supporting non-face-to-face exports of SMEs ▲ and 10.2 trillion won for stable maintenance of loan and guarantee supply to SMEs and small business owners to strengthen the social safety net.
Additionally, to stabilize the management of small business owners whose sales sharply declined due to COVID-19, the experience of operating the 'Small Business New Hope Fund' supported through non-face-to-face methods will be leveraged, and the customized damage support for the third wave of COVID-19 reflected as a purpose reserve fund in 2021 is expected to be smoothly implemented.
Minister Park Yeon-seon of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups stated, "To leap forward as a 'global digital powerhouse,' we will actively support the transition from the platform economy to the 'protocol economy,' and strive to execute the 2021 budget without delay to successfully promote core policies such as the Korean New Deal and carbon neutrality."
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