Pohang City Goes All In for Livelihood Economy Recovery and Creating Attractive Commercial Districts This Year

Focus on Livelihood Economy and Sustainable Commercial Ecosystem

Mayor Lee Gang-deok: "Public-Private Cooperation to Revitalize the Economy"

Pohang City will focus its administrative efforts this year on the economic policy direction of "restoring the livelihood economy and creating a sustainable commercial ecosystem."

To achieve this, the city plans to enhance the dynamism of the livelihood economy through various policies, including ▲local price stabilization management ▲fostering entrepreneur-type small business owners ▲creating attractive commercial districts that reflect regional value ▲and establishing a cooperative win-win foundation with the private sector.

First, to stabilize local prices, the city will focus on managing personal service fees, which have a high inflation rate. Last year, Pohang designated 200 "Good Price" businesses, the largest number nationwide, and this year plans to expand the designated businesses and strengthen promotions to encourage voluntary price reductions so that fair pricing spreads throughout Pohang.

Additionally, the city will encourage merchants' self-regulation efforts to eradicate overcharging and participation in price stabilization, while operating price monitoring personnel on a regular basis to strengthen monitoring.

Alongside this, the city will actively promote support projects for small business owners vulnerable to the economic crisis to expand their management safety nets, recover sales, and strengthen self-sustainability.

For small business owners struggling to secure funds, the city will alleviate management burdens through detailed financial support such as special guarantee support and interest subsidy support by raising 15 billion KRW in resources, and provide tailored financial support like card fee subsidies and employer employment insurance premium support projects for micro small business owners to help stabilize management.

In particular, to nurture e-commerce small business owners equipped to respond to the changing economic ecosystem, the city will support the growth of commercial district-led small businesses in the Ontact era by expanding live commerce and broadcasting support, as well as online shopping mall entry support. Furthermore, it plans to assist in establishing a management foundation and strengthening competitiveness for small business owners by supporting the operation of a public delivery app with reduced delivery fees and promoting the Saebaram Change-up project for store environment improvement.

Moreover, to revitalize local commercial districts, the city will create attractive commercial districts that reflect regional value.

With a secured project budget of 9.8 billion KRW, the city aims to develop traditional markets into citizen-centered life platforms and promote the expansion of tourism markets that preserve regional value and culture.

The city is conducting a feasibility study for the construction of the "Jukdo Market Global Welcome Center," a complex cultural space within the traditional market, and expects to invigorate the local economy by revitalizing the Cheongha Gongjin Market through maintenance projects. Additionally, it will create a convenient and pleasant shopping environment by strengthening safety facilities, improving the environment, constructing parking lots and arcade facilities, and modernizing facilities such as rebuilding market stalls.

Last August, many citizens gathered and crowded at the Yeongilman Chingu Night Market held at Pohang City Central Shopping District.

Finally, Pohang will establish a public-private cooperative win-win foundation through the issuance of Pohang Love Gift Certificates and a win-win consumption festival.

To promote consumption expansion, the city plans to issue a total of 200 billion KRW worth of Pohang Love Gift Certificates this year and launch a mobile version of the Pohang Love Gift Certificate to encourage tourists' local spending. Alongside this, a large-scale consumption festival involving local small business owners and the Yeongilman Friends Night Market will also be held.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok stated, "We will carefully examine the difficulties of people's livelihoods and devote thought and effort to discovering policies that reflect the voices of local merchants," adding, "We will create a commercial district foundation where the public and private sectors cooperate and coexist to revitalize Pohang's economy."

Last year, Pohang City earned the honor of winning three crowns in various economic evaluations by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and Gyeongsangbuk-do Province. In particular, it was selected as the best and excellent institution for three consecutive times in the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's price stabilization management evaluation and received a total of 200 million KRW in special grants in the first and second halves of last year as a financial incentive.