Kim Juhyun, Financial Services Commission Chairman, "125 Trillion Won Livelihood Stabilization Measures Are Just the Beginning... Supplementary Measures Needed"

Answer in the National Assembly's Government Questioning on the 26th
"Measures for Livelihood Stability, Not the End but the Beginning"

Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Ju-hyun (center) is speaking at the meeting of the chairmen of the five major financial holding companies held on the 21st at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Sim Nayoung] Kim Joo-hyun, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, stated that the '125 trillion won + α' scale financial sector livelihood stabilization measures are "not the end but the beginning. Supplementary measures are necessary."

Chairman Kim appeared at the National Assembly's government questioning session on the afternoon of the 26th and explained, "I believe that if support for vulnerable groups is insufficient, our society cannot develop into a healthy community, and this value is understood as one of the core values of the current government." He added, "(The support measures) include converting high-interest loans to low-interest loans for small business owners, with 80 trillion won allocated for small business owners."

He said, "Since stability related to housing is very important, we are also increasing the guarantee limit for jeonse deposits and converting high-interest variable-rate loans to fixed-rate loans to reduce interest burdens," adding, "We plan to supply about 10 trillion won in funds to low-income people."

Chairman Kim emphasized, "I think this is the beginning, not the end," and added, "We do not know how the economic situation will change in the future, and it could become more difficult depending on the economic situation, so additional supplementary measures are absolutely necessary."

During the economic sector government questioning session held at the National Assembly that day, Choi Seung-jae, a member of the People Power Party, asked Chairman Kim about 'tailored pinpoint support for vulnerable groups and support for livelihood policy finance.' Representative Choi said, "I believe that policies should be designed in a somewhat more favorable direction than before for low-income, low-credit small business owners and self-employed people who were directly hit by COVID-19," and pointed out, "More detailed and meticulous tailored pinpoint support policies are absolutely necessary for vulnerable groups who were rejected for refinancing loans and did not receive interest rate reductions."

On the 14th, the Financial Services Commission announced financial sector livelihood stabilization measures amounting to '125 trillion won + α.' The core includes supplying 79.7 trillion won for small business owner support, 340 billion won for livelihood finance, and 45 trillion won for household borrowers support. On the 24th, detailed measures worth 41 trillion won targeting 'borrowers with repayment ability' were presented among the approximately 80 trillion won small business support measures.

The Financial Services Commission announced that it will supply new policy funds over two years, including 10.5 trillion won for liquidity supply to self-employed business owners, 29.7 trillion won to strengthen competitiveness, and 1 trillion won for re-start support funds.