Gwangyang Sarang Gift Certificates Sales Resume from August 4

Secured a budget of 700 million won, 10% of the 7 billion won issuance scale
Switch to general sales once 7 billion won is exhausted

[Gwangyang=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik] On July 30, Gwangyang City in Jeonnam announced that with the securing of a budget of 700 million KRW, which is 10% of the 7 billion KRW issuance scale from the first supplementary budget, the Gwangyang Love Gift Certificates will be distributed by sales outlets and sold starting from August 4.

The city had sold 15 billion KRW worth of gift certificates at a discount from January 27 to May 31, but sales were suspended due to budget exhaustion, sparking strong public interest in the resumption of discounted sales.

Once the resumed discounted sales of 7 billion KRW are exhausted, sales will switch to general sales, and the 2022 main budget is expected to increase in response to the demand for Gwangyang Love Gift Certificates sales in 2021.

In January, to improve user convenience, the city expanded the number of Gwangyang Love Gift Certificate sales points from the original two locations?NH Nonghyup Bank Gwangyang Branch and Nonghyup Bank Gwangyang City Hall Sub-branch?to 27 locations including regional Nonghyup branches.

Additionally, from early in the year, applications for merchants able to use the gift certificate cards were accepted, securing 4,561 affiliated stores and issuing registration certificates and stickers.

So far, the total amount of gift certificates sold this year is 27.6 billion KRW (4.61 billion KRW from policy issuance such as farmers and fishermen’s public interest allowances, 7.99 billion KRW from purchases by POSCO Gwangyang Steelworks and its partner companies association, and 15 billion KRW from discounted sales).

With the 7 billion KRW for discounted sales this time and the 37.5 billion KRW second emergency disaster relief fund scheduled to be paid to all citizens, totaling 44.5 billion KRW to be distributed by September, a total of 72.1 billion KRW is expected to be consumed locally.

Lee Hwa-yeop, head of the Regional Economy Division, said, “The resumption of discounted sales of Gwangyang Love Gift Certificates and the decision on the timing of emergency disaster relief payments are expected to bring great vitality to the local economy, which has been stagnant due to COVID-19.”

He added, “To maximize the effects of the gift certificate discount sales and disaster relief support and ensure that the benefits are evenly distributed, we encourage usage at various affiliated stores rather than focusing on large-scale stores.”

Gwangyang=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik hss79@asiae.co.kr