Sejong 'Yeominjeon' Issued 300 Billion Won Last Year... Driving Local Economic Revitalization

[Asia Economy (Sejong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Last year, the local currency Yeominjeon was expanded from the initially planned 240 billion KRW to 300 billion KRW. Yeominjeon is analyzed to have played a role in revitalizing the local economy, with over 97% of the issued amount being used for immediate payments.

According to Sejong City on the 3rd, a total of 300 billion KRW of Yeominjeon was issued and all sold by December 28th of last year.

This amount is 125.4 billion KRW more than the 174.6 billion KRW issued in 2020, and when including policy issuance to institutions, a total of 134.8 billion KRW was additionally issued, according to the city.

Last year, the number of Yeominjeon issuers was 144,509, an increase of 51,273 from 93,236 in 2020.

The main consumer group of Yeominjeon is people in their 30s to 50s, with those in their 40s accounting for 46% of the recharge ratio in the first half of last year.

The industries with the highest usage of Yeominjeon were restaurants, education, health and medical services, general retail stores, and food and beverage, indicating that most users consumed daily necessities through Yeominjeon.

In particular, Yeominjeon played a key role in revitalizing the local economy, which was stagnant due to the spread of COVID-19.

For example, according to the Daejeon-Sejong Research Institute’s “Analysis of the Local Economic Effects of Local Currency Yeominjeon,” the consumption effect shifted from large marts, department stores, and online to local small business owners and self-employed amounted to 48.5 billion KRW (28.7% of payment amount), and the additional consumption effect reached 43.2 billion KRW (25.6% of payment amount), indicating that Yeominjeon contributed to increasing the income of small business owners.

Last year, policy issuance without cashback also increased significantly compared to the previous year. Including the Win-Win National Support Fund paid from September to October last year, Yeominjeon sold to a total of 13 institutions amounted to 13.7 billion KRW, more than tripling from 4.3 billion KRW the previous year.

The city plans to continuously increase policy issuance by discovering institutions this year as well, thereby reducing fiscal burden and preventing the outflow of consumer funds outside the region.

Yang Won-chang, Director of the City’s Economic and Industrial Bureau, said, “Thanks to the high interest and participation of citizens, we achieved the record sale of 300 billion KRW of Yeominjeon last year,” and added, “The city will continue to strive to ensure that the issuance of Yeominjeon helps revitalize the local commercial district this year.”