[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province has urgently prepared a supplementary budget of 1.4387 trillion won to swiftly respond to the crisis faced by the livelihood economy due to high inflation, high interest rates, and high exchange rates, and submitted it to the Gyeonggi Provincial Council on the 21st.
Gyeonggi Province explained that due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, rising raw material prices and financial instability have spread to overall living costs, exacerbating difficulties for vulnerable groups, leading to the preparation of the first supplementary budget of 1.4387 trillion won.
The province originally planned to submit the supplementary budget around the 12th, when the council's committee formation was completed, but delayed submission due to the late formation of the committee.
This year's supplementary budget scale is 35.0423 trillion won, an increase of 1.4387 trillion won (4.3%) from the original budget of 33.6036 trillion won. Of this, the general account is 31.4096 trillion won, and the special account is 3.6327 trillion won.
This supplementary budget is to stably implement the "Emergency Economic Response and Livelihood Stabilization Comprehensive Plan," approved immediately after Governor Kim Dong-yeon's inauguration, mainly reflecting direct support budgets for vulnerable groups such as small business owners and SMEs, and provincial matching funds for government support projects like COVID-19 living support payments.
The province stated that 247.2 billion won was allocated for the implementation of the Emergency Economic Response and Livelihood Stabilization Comprehensive Plan.
By sector, the province first allocated 101.9 billion won for credit recovery and stable management support for SMEs and small business owners, the backbone of the local livelihood economy, including refinancing of high-interest loans and low-interest operating funds support.
Main projects include ▲815 billion won for SME refinancing loans ▲3.6 billion won to reduce repayment burdens for local small business loans ▲4.4 billion won for the re-challenge ecosystem expansion project ▲3 billion won for small loans support for debt adjustment and faithful repayment, among others.
The province also included 125.1 billion won for consumer and household price stabilization funds and 20.2 billion won for price stabilization of agricultural, fishery, and livestock products and strengthening export companies' competitiveness in this supplementary budget.
Additionally, since there was no supplementary budget in the first half of this year, the province plans to inject 186.1 billion won in provincial matching funds for projects that could not be matched previously to ensure smooth project implementation.
Ryu In-kwon, Director of the Provincial Planning and Coordination Office, said, "In the case of the living support payment project, payments have not yet been completed for confirmed cases in March, when COVID-19 spread the most," adding, "The delay in preparing the supplementary budget raises concerns that national and provincial support for vulnerable groups will also be delayed. We hope the supplementary budget review proceeds swiftly."
Earlier, according to Governor Kim Dong-yeon's first approval, the "Emergency Economic Response and Livelihood Stabilization Comprehensive Plan," 5.2 billion won in contingency funds were urgently invested to support duty-free fuel and part of logistics costs for farmers and fishermen, and logistics costs for export companies.
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