A survey found that 37% of domestic small and midsize businesses said their cash flow for this Chuseok is tight. It also showed they need an average of 197.8 million won for Chuseok funds and are short by 47.7 million won.
The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises announced on the 25th the results of the "2025 SME Chuseok fund demand survey," conducted on 800 small and midsize businesses from the 8th to the 12th. The sample included 400 manufacturers and 400 non-manufacturers, selected based on sales (1 billion–20 billion won) and number of employees (10–50).
The survey showed that 37.9% said their cash flow this Chuseok is worse than last Chuseok. Another 43.6% said it is no different from last year. Only 18.5% said their cash flow is smooth.
As reasons for tight cash flow (multiple answers), the most cited was "weak sales/revenue (64.0%)," followed by ▲ rises in raw and subsidiary material prices (33.7%) ▲ higher labor costs (24.4%) ▲ delays in collecting sales proceeds (17.5%).
Respondents said they need an average of 197.8 million won for Chuseok funds this year, with an average shortfall of 47.7 million won compared with needs. For ways to secure the shortfall (multiple answers), they cited ▲ deferring payments (40.4%) ▲ early collection of delivery payments (30.8%) ▲ borrowing from financial institutions (30.5%).
On Chuseok bonus payment plans, 50.6% of corporations said they have plans, 33.0% said they will not pay, and 16.4% said they have not decided. For the bonus level, rate-based payments averaged 25.2% of base pay, while flat payments averaged 783,000 won.
Meanwhile, 26.6% said that funding conditions through financial institutions such as banks and policy finance institutions are "difficult" compared with last Chuseok, nearly double the 14.1% who said they are "smooth," while 59.3% said they are "no different from last year." Regarding whether there are difficulties in raising funds from banks, 68.8% said "no," and 31.3% said "yes."
The main difficulties in raising funds through banks (multiple answers) were ▲ insufficient credit limits (56.0%) ▲ financial-statement-centered screening (42.0%) ▲ high lending rates (39.2%).
Regarding additional Chuseok holidays, more than half of all corporations (55.6%) said they have no separate days off besides the Chuseok public holidays, and the average number of days off was 0.95 day, less than one day.
Chu Moon-gap, head of economic policy at the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, said, "This year as well, many small and midsize businesses still face tight cash flow due to sluggish sales and financing costs, and management burdens are growing as they fail to secure a substantial portion of needed funds," and added, "In particular, as difficulties in using financial institutions such as high interest rates and loan limits persist, the government's Chuseok livelihood stabilization measures—supplying 43 trillion won in holiday funds and extending loan and guarantee maturities—must be executed in the field without a hitch."