Expansion of Hope Loans for Small Business Owners
Agreement with 5 Saemaeul Geumgo Branches in the District
Providing an Average Annual Interest Rate of 5.5%
District Office Supports 4% Interest Difference
Nam-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (District Mayor Kim Byeong-nae) is expanding support for the 'Small Business Hope Loan.'
Nam-gu announced on the 26th that it is providing additional support by signing a business agreement with Saemaeul Geumgo located in the district to support various policy projects in cooperation with financial institutions for the stabilization of small business management within the district.
The day before, the signing ceremony was attended by District Mayor Kim Byeong-nae and the chairpersons of five Saemaeul Geumgo branches in Mujin, Gwangnam, Seoyang, Juwol, and Wolsan located in the district.
Since 2022, Nam-gu and the local Saemaeul Geumgo have signed annual agreements on Hope Loan services to alleviate the difficulties faced by small business owners struggling to secure operating funds.
In particular, this year, the loan scale has been increased by 200 million KRW compared to last year, providing 1.2 billion KRW in policy funds to small business owners in the district.
Along with this, Nam-gu will also support reducing the economic burden on small business owners. The district office has decided to cover about three-quarters of the annual average interest rate borne by small business owners as interest difference compensation.
To this end, Nam-gu plans to increase the budget input compared to last year and provide 48 million KRW in interest difference compensation to small business owners in the district this year.
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Accordingly, small business owners in the district can use the Hope Loan policy funds at low interest rates until the funds are exhausted by July next year. The support amount per business ranges from 5 to 10 million KRW, and the annual average interest rate is around 5.5%, varying according to individual credit ratings.
Since the district office pays 4% as interest difference compensation, policy funds can be used at an interest rate of about 1.5%.
A Nam-gu official stated, “We expect this to be of some help to small business owners who are struggling to secure business funds due to the economic downturn,” and added, “We will do our best to promote projects for the stabilization of small business management in the district.”
Meanwhile, earlier this year, Nam-gu signed business agreements with Gwangju Bank and Gwangju Credit Guarantee Foundation to provide special guarantee funds worth 3.36 billion KRW to small business owners in the district this year.
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