Incheon is offering 1.2 trillion won in Back-to-Normal and Livelihood Support Grants for facilitating its citizens to go back to normal in a prompt manner. The city plans to accelerate the economic recovery through the ‘livelihood support’ based on ‘Incheon-type Disease Spread Control Measures,’ in which sustainable ‘normality’ is maintained.
▲Incheon held a media briefing with the Speaker of the City Council and the Governors of 10 counties and districts in the Empathy Meeting Room in the City on 11th, where they announced the ‘City of Incheon Back-to-Normal, Livelihood Support Plan’
Major Park Namchoon held a media briefing with the Speaker of the City Council and the Governors of 10 counties and districts in the Empathy Meeting Room in the City on 11th, where they announced the ‘City of Incheon Back-to-Normal, Livelihood Support Plan’
Incheon plans to implement Incheon Back-to-Normal, Livelihood Support Plan in the two tracks of ‘Incheon-type Livelihood Support Measures’ and ‘Incheon-type Disease Spread Control Measures,’ for prompt restoration of normality and livelihood.
First, the Incheon-type Livelihood Support Measures amounts to a total of 1.624trillion won (or 2.3272 trillion won, if the financial supports are included),which is composed of ▲ Consumption Support Fund 543 billion won, ▲ Special Support for Affected Industries 210.1 billion won, and ▲ Job and Livelihood Support 409.3 billion won.
Mayor Park said, “The Incheon-type Disease Spread Control Measures and Incheon-type Livelihood Support Measures will be focused heavily on the most severely affected sectors, while we concentrate our efforts on small businesses over a short period utilizing Incheon e-Eum to ensure consumption is maximized” as he described the Incheon-type Livelihood Support Measures.
The consumption support fund amounts to 543 billion won, which is composed of ▲ 301billion won for the Back-to-Normal Support, in which every citizen will be paid100,000 won, ▲ 219.2 billion won for maintaining the 10% ceiling for the Incheon e-Eum cashback program (until the budget in 2022 is spent entirely),and ▲ 10.2 billion won for the Support for the Child-Care Disasters for Infants and Toddlers, etc.
Mayor Park said, “For helping the citizens of Incheon going back to normal, the city will pay all of the 3million citizens of Incheon with 100,000 won each as the Back-to-Normal Support Grant,” and added, “The application process and payment will start from the end of December this year.”
A total of 210.1 billion won will be assigned to the provision of special supports to affected industries. ▲ To small businesses (where the annual sales are not more than 300 million won) or the business owners who closed their business permanently now will be paid 250,000 won each from the January of next year.For this, the city plans to assign 55 billion won and 14 billion won, respectively.
However, the exact timetable of the support program may vary, depending on the schedule of the payment of damages by the Ministry of SME and Startups.
Mayor Park said, “While many citizens suffered difficulties because of COVID-19, the small businesses are particularly deep in trouble. Therefore, the city decided to pay each of the small businesses and those who already closed their business 250,000 won each, within January of the next year.”
▲For assisting its citizens in returning to normal as fast as they can, the city will pay a 100,000 won Back-to-Normal grant to each of the 3 million citizens of the city. The application process and payment will start at the end of December so that the citizens can spend money on the eve of the new year.
Also, the city will be spending ▲ 23 billion won for helping small businesses with their operational burdens, ▲ 64.6 billion won for SMB invigoration programs, ▲ 34.3 billion won for the public-good benefits for farmers and fishers, and ▲ 2.8 billion for the tourism, MICE, culture, and art industries.
The city will dole out a total of 409.3 billion won for job security and livelihood programs. ▲ Rent Support for Youth (200,000 won each month, 2.4 million won per year) will be funded with 10.6 billion won, to help to pay 4400 beneficiaries to pay their monthly rent for the livelihood of the youth, concentrating 130.4billion won for employment benefits. ▲ The city will also invest some 278.9 billion won for increasing the public sector jobs for the low-income population, including women and the elderly.
About the Incheon-type Disease Spread Control Measures, the city will change its stance from the previous ‘Overkill’ approach to ‘maintaining sustainable disease control measures,’ which will be based on cooperation with the civil society.
As for testing and spread control measures, the city will maintain its capacity to test up to 5,000 people in 24 hours by the public sector. The key disease control instructions will be enforced while step-wise back-to-normal programs will be in effect. Any industries or areas with an outbreak will be subject to an immediate administrative order, as a part of the city’s flexible disease control approach.
The city will also focus its effort to get the vaccine to the arms of more citizens.They will be offering vaccination incentives to all citizens (ex: 50% discount for the home game of Incheon United on November 28th) and provide consultation for each category of reasons avoiding vaccination, as a part of the city’s effort to increase the proportion of the citizens who got vaccinated.
The city will also build up its readiness in terms of treatment. While the mainstay will be treated at home, the treatment system will be operated depending on the types of patients. The city also prepared a plan to secure up to 1,400 hospital beds in case the number of daily confirmations exceeds 500.
