Icheon Expands Loan Interest Support to Ease SME Financial Difficulties

Interest Support Rate Increased from 2.0% to 2.3%
2.5% Support for Women-Owned and Semiconductor Companies

On June 25, the city of Icheon in Gyeonggi Province announced that it will expand the budget for special management fund support to stabilize the management of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as part of its efforts to support livelihood stability and economic revitalization.

This program is an interest subsidy project in which the city provides partial interest support when SMEs receive working capital or facility loans from partner banks. Eligible recipients are companies engaged in manufacturing or knowledge-based industries. The maximum loan period is three years. The loan limits are 300 million won for working capital and 500 million won for facility funds.

The city has decided to expand interest support in line with its policy to increase support for SME management stability and facility investment, and has reflected this in the first supplementary budget proposal.

Accordingly, starting next month, the basic interest support rate for companies applying for special management funds will increase by 0.3 percentage points from 2% to 2.3%. For women-owned businesses and semiconductor companies, which are strategic industries for the city, the rate will be raised to 2.5%. For disaster-affected SMEs, the rate will be increased to 3%. In addition, the exemption of early repayment fees, which was previously offered only at some partner banks, will be expanded to all partner banks starting next month.

The city will also increase the overseas exhibition support budget for SMEs from 50 million won to 100 million won, and expand the rental support budget for SME workers by 30 million won, increasing the number of supported companies from 17 (29 workers) to 31 (43 workers).

Kim Kyunghee, Mayor of Icheon, said, "I hope that the expanded interest support will help stabilize SME management, even if only a little," adding, "We will continue to expand support for SMEs in the future."