Gumi City Allocates 2.16 Trillion Won in Supplementary Budget... Up by 158 Billion Won

177 Billion Won Allocated for Low Birthrate Crisis Response

Support for Management Stabilization of SMEs and Small Business Owners

Gumi City in North Gyeongsang Province has prepared its first supplementary budget bill for 2024, totaling 2.16 trillion won. This represents an increase of 158 billion won (7.89%) compared to the original budget of 2.02 trillion won, and was submitted to the city council on the 18th.

By accounting type, the general account increased by 121 billion won (7.23%) from the original 1.6737 trillion won to 1.7947 trillion won, while the special account increased by 37 billion won (11.27%) from 328.3 billion won to 365.3 billion won.

This budget reflects measures to overcome the low birthrate crisis, support for the stabilization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small business owners, costs for disaster preparedness and emergency recovery from heavy rains and other disasters, and statutory and mandatory essential expenses.

Key allocations include 2.4 billion won for the creation of local care villages, 2.2 billion won for support to encourage childbirth among small business owners, 2.5 billion won for youth monthly rent support, and 1.1 billion won for newlywed youth couples’ rent support, totaling 17.7 billion won to address the low birthrate crisis.

To support the management stabilization of local SMEs and small business owners struggling with prolonged high inflation and economic downturn, and to revitalize the local economy, the city also increased allocations for domestic return investment subsidies (4.5 billion won), Gumi Love Gift Certificate discount compensation (2.5 billion won), card fee support for small business owners (1.5 billion won), and special guarantee contributions and interest subsidies for small business owners (1.6 billion won).

In preparation for frequent heavy rains and various disasters caused by climate change, the city allocated a total of 6.1 billion won for disaster preparedness and emergency recovery, including 1.7 billion won for road emergency repairs and maintenance, 400 million won for disaster prevention emergency recovery projects, and 1.1 billion won for maintenance of local and small rivers.

Mayor Kim Jangho stated, "We will make every effort to develop response measures and discover policies to overcome the national crisis of low birthrate," adding, "We will do our best to quickly and smoothly implement key projects that can reduce the economic burden on citizens suffering from high prices and lead the recovery of the local economy for small business owners and SMEs."

The first supplementary budget bill submitted this time will be finalized on the 31st after deliberation at the temporary session of the Gumi City Council.