It was found that small and medium-sized enterprises need an average of 202.7 million won for this year's Lunar New Year funds. Of this, the average shortfall compared with needed funds was 26.3 million won. In addition, five out of 10 small and medium-sized enterprises (46.8%) plan to pay Lunar New Year bonuses, and when paid as a flat amount, it was found to average 593,000 won per person.
The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises said on the 10th that it conducted a "2026 SME Lunar New Year fund demand survey" of 819 small and medium-sized enterprises.
As a result of the survey, 29.8% said their funding situation is "difficult" compared with last Lunar New Year, higher than "smooth" (19.9%). The response of "average" was 50.3%. As reasons for funding difficulties (multiple responses), "sluggish sales" (82.8%) was cited most, followed by "rising prices of raw and subsidiary materials" (44.3%) and "rising labor costs" (32.4%).
Compared with last Lunar New Year, conditions for raising funds through financial institutions were found to be "average" (67.5%), "favorable" (17.8%), and "difficult" (14.7%) in that order. It was found that 86.3% responded there were no difficulties when raising bank funds. When there were difficulties, "high loan interest rates" (63.4%) and "insufficient credit limits" (38.4%) were mainly cited.
As measures to secure insufficient Lunar New Year funds, "early collection of accounts receivable" was the most common at 58.0%, followed by "borrowing from financial institutions" (42.5%) and "delayed payments" (32.9%). Responses saying "there is no countermeasure" also reached 18.4%.
Among small and medium-sized enterprises, 46.8% said they plan to pay Lunar New Year bonuses this year. The level of bonus payments was found to average 50.0% of base pay when paid as a fixed rate, and 593,000 won per person when paid as a flat amount. Among small and medium-sized enterprises, 91.6% have no plans for extra days off beyond the Lunar New Year holidays, and corporations that do plan extra days off will close for an average of 1.8 days.
Kim Hee-jung, head of the Economic Policy Headquarters at the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, said, "Small and medium-sized enterprises are under increasing financial strain due to sluggish sales and high interest rates," and noted, "Preemptive support from policy institutions and the financial sector is needed to stabilize management after the holiday."