Greetings, everyone, and thank you for joining us for this week’s edition of GTV. I’m Don Valiant and this is the news from Gyeonggi Province this week. Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly Proposes 2nd Disaster Basic Income Payment (0112-1) While demand for additional disaster basic income escalates during the prolonged pandemic, the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly officially proposed during a press conference that the provincial administration make a second round of disaster basic income payments to residents. The provincial assembly also indicated that the administration will be able to secure the necessary budget from existing funds without having to issue local bonds. Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung (이재명) responded immediately with assurances that he would positively consider the matter. ◇ Gyeonggi’s SME Business Environment Improvement Program (0106-2) Last year, Gyeonggi Province provided more than 4,000 SMEs with business environment improvement support. Welfare standards for employees of these enterprises have been heightened through the improvement of working environments including work areas, dormitories and washrooms. Support was also provided for safety enhancement through the improvement of common infrastructure such as roads, water supplies, sewage systems and parking lots in areas with high concentrations of SMEs. For this year’s support, the province has earmarked KRW 5.5 billion for the benefit of more than 4,500 SMEs. ◇   Gyeonggi to Launch Overdraft Banking Support for Small Businesses (0108-1) Gyeonggi Province recently announced plans to provide small businesses that are experiencing difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic with support for overdraft banking. Through this support, account holders can use an overdraft for up to KRW 10 million at an annual interest rate of just 2 to 3 percent with guarantee costs borne by the province. This support is available to small business operators whose credit ratings preclude bank loans and who are burdened by the high interest rates of private loans. More than 20,000 small businesses are expected to benefit from this support, which will be valid for up to 5 years for each business. ◇ Gyeonggi Launches Farm Waste Shredder Rental Support (0112-2) Gyeonggi Province has launched a farm waste shredder rental support program that will run during the special microdust control period until the end of March. These shredders reduce farm wastes such as twigs, stalks and stems that remain from harvests into a mulch that can be used as a natural fertilizer. The province will allocate approximately KRW 1.1 billion and employ 38 personnel for rental operations that will initially begin in 10 cities and counties of the province. Support will cover machine rental and operating costs as well as associated labor costs. ◇ Gyeonggi’s Public Delivery App Proves Effective Against Monopolies (0113-1) Last month, Gyeonggi Province introduced its public ‘Delivery Express’ app as a counter to monopolies in the delivery app market. During the first month of operation, more than 100,000 users placed orders totaling more than KRW 1 billion via this app. These results indicate that this public delivery app is effectively displacing the private service monopolies that small businesses were compelled to use despite their high service fee rates. These notable results were realized through initial operation of the app in only three cities of the province: Hwaseong, (화성), Osan (오산) and Paju (파주), A large number of users, accounting for approximately half of all users, made repeated use of the app during the one month of operation. ◇   Gyeonggi Begins Fairness Benefit Payments to Temporary Provincial Employees (0111-1) From this year, Gyeonggi Province will pay ‘Fairness Benefits’ to temporary employees of the province. This measure reflects the provincial administration’s policy that the public sector must take the lead in paying more to temporary employees and those employed for shorter periods than to regular employees and those employed for longer periods. A total of 1,792 temporary employees at provincial offices and organizations will be entitled to this benefit, which amounts to 5 to 10 percent of basic salaries depending on working periods. ◇ 84% of Startups in Gyeonggi Impacted by COVID-19 Pandemic (0113) In June last year, the Gyeonggi Research Institute investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on startups through a survey of 200 founders, CEOs and board members of startups, venture enterprises and innovative enterprises. According to the results, 84 percent of respondents regarded COVID-19 as having negative effects on their businesses, with the most pronounced effect being declining sales due to decreasing demand as chosen by 34 percent of respondents. Notably, there were also indications that the pandemic was regarded as an opportunity for creating demand in some business fields. ◇ Thank you for joining us for this week’s edition of GTV. We look forward to seeing you again next week.