The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 10th that the budget plan for next year has been finalized at 15.2488 trillion won, an increase of 299.1 billion won compared to this year's budget.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups aims to support the recovery of 7.66 million small business owners and self-employed individuals, while also backing the global leap and innovative growth of 8.04 million small and medium enterprises (SME) and venture startups.
The ministry will provide temporary support for delivery and logistics costs to small businesses suffering from high prices and interest rates. It will increase policy loans for credit-challenged small businesses and bolster financial support, including extending repayment periods for commercial bank loans.
The ministry will expand the Hope Return Package program that offers one-stop support for reemployment and reestablishment of businesses after closure, and will create new projects linked to private platforms to enhance the digital capabilities of small businesses. It will also expand the issuance of Onnuri gift certificates and establish a regional commercial revitalization project involving private entities, local governments, and the central government.
The ministry will create new specialized support projects for startups in artificial intelligence (AI) and fabless semiconductor design companies, while also increasing the budget for the primary fund. It will newly support exports of technology services, which are emerging as future export sectors, and will increase scale-up financing specifically for exporting small and medium enterprises (SME). Construction of a global startup hub will also begin next year.
The ministry will expand autonomous voucher support for local small and medium enterprises (SME) and kick off regionally specialized research and development (R&D) support, while adding three regional AI manufacturing centers. It will start a new Jump-Up program to support the scale-up of promising small and medium enterprises (SME) and will also increase policy loans linked to the supply chain.
A ministry official noted, "I will carefully monitor all aspects of business promotion next year for the recovery of small business owners and self-employed individuals and the future leap of small and medium enterprises (SME), venture startups. We plan to concentrate all policy capabilities on swift financial execution to quickly restore vitality and dynamism to our economy."