The government announced that it plans to submit the 2025 supplementary budget plan, which was finalized at a Cabinet meeting on the 18th, to the National Assembly.
Accordingly, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Oh Young-joo, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups) has prepared a supplementary budget of KRW 5.112 trillion for 2025 to overcome current domestic and international crises such as trade issues, wildfire damage, slow domestic demand recovery, and technological competition due to AI. It plans to focus on supporting small business owners and SMEs by focusing on three major areas: ▲Support for responding to trade risks, ▲Support for recovery of people’s livelihoods, and ▲Support for responding to new technologies such as AI.
◆ We will provide focused support to respond to trade risks of exporting small and medium-sized enterprises that are experiencing difficulties in exporting due to external uncertainties such as US tariff measures.
To ease the management burden of small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in U.S. tariff item industries or exporting to the U.S., a new 'Trade Risk Response Emergency Fund' of KRW 100 billion will be established (limited to 25 years), and the financial burden of small and medium-sized enterprises will be eased through differentiated support such as preferential interest rates, grace periods, and maturity extensions.
In addition, in order to strengthen the global competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises, we plan to supply an additional KRW 100 billion in funds necessary for diversifying export countries and entering new markets, and KRW 500 billion in funds to provide emergency liquidity to small and medium-sized enterprises experiencing temporary management difficulties. In addition, to provide rapid liquidity, we plan to establish a 'Special Guarantee for Crisis Enterprises' worth a total of KRW 4.5 trillion through the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KRW 3.3 trillion) and the Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KRW 1.2 trillion).
In addition, an additional KRW 89.8 billion will be invested in the export voucher project to enhance the global response capabilities of exporting SMEs, and an additional KRW 10 billion will be provided to support costs for obtaining overseas standard certifications required by export destination countries.
◆ We will establish and support various projects to help small business owners recover their livelihoods from difficulties caused by trade risks, wildfire damage, and rising prices.
In order to ease the burden of fixed costs (utility bills, insurance premiums) and provide liquidity for small business owners, a new project worth 1.57 trillion won, the 'Small Business Burden Reduction Credit', was newly organized to provide credit (500,000 won) to small business owners with annual sales of 300 million won or less.
In order to encourage sales expansion in traditional markets and small business owners, which are the core of the people's economy, a budget of 1.37 trillion won was allocated for the 'Symbiotic Payback' project, which refunds 20% of the increased card spending amount compared to the previous year in the form of digital Onnuri gift certificates.
In order to resolve the management difficulties of small and medium-sized business owners with low credit scores who have had difficulty securing short-term operating funds, a new 'Small Business Biz Plus Card' will be created to allow them to use a credit card exclusively for purchases with a limit of 10 million won.
The card offers a 6-month interest-free installment plan to minimize the financial burden and resolve the policy gap for low- and medium-credit borrowers who have had difficulty securing short-term operating funds.
In addition, to support the stable operation of small business owners, the policy fund for small business owners will be expanded to 500 billion won, and the new guarantee supply will be expanded to 2 trillion won through local credit guarantee foundations.
In order to help small business owners quickly recover, an additional 49.4 billion won will be invested in the 'Hope Return Package' project to support store demolition costs and revive businesses, and a 10% rebate event for digital Onnuri gift certificates will be held for five months targeting traditional markets and shopping districts that have suffered from economic downturns and declining sales, to create an atmosphere for revitalizing consumption.
◆ In order to respond to rapid changes in new technologies such as AI, we plan to support technological innovation scale-up of small and medium-sized enterprises in the AI field and promote the introduction and use of AI technology in smart factories.
We are expanding Scale-Up TIPS, an R&D program linked to private investment, to support promising AI technology companies with advanced technological capabilities to enhance their technological competitiveness and scale up in earnest.
In addition, we support the development of manufacturing robots, process automation, and cloud solutions so that AI technology can be applied and spread to small and medium-sized manufacturing sites.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to swiftly implement support projects so that small business owners and small and medium-sized enterprises, who are in dire need of support, can quickly improve their management environment through this supplementary budget.
Minister of SMEs and Startups Oh Young-joo said, “Through this supplementary budget plan, we plan to actively support small business owners and small and medium-sized enterprises that are suffering from difficulties due to U.S. tariffs, wildfire damage, and the sluggish domestic economy to resolve their management difficulties and revitalize them.”
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