South Korea announced a 19.5 trillion won stimulus plan, causing fears that relief funds will be lost!

The South Korean government and ruling party recently announced a massive 19.5 trillion won stimulus package, but the plan has sparked controversy in South Korea after its announcement and triggered the so-called "fear of missing out syndrome " ( FOMO ) among people who are not eligible for subsidies .

The stimulus package has three main parts : support for small businesses affected by the outbreak , support or creation of jobs , and spending on quarantine measures , including the purchase of vaccines and compensation for medical institutions whose business has been affected by Covid-19. Most of the funds for the rescue plan will be paid through a supplementary budget of 15 trillion won.

The South Korean government will provide up to 5 million won in subsidies to small businesses affected by the pandemic in the stimulus package . However, some groups have been "forgotten" by the South Korean government , which has questioned the fairness of its procedures. Among the forgotten "groups" are chartered bus drivers and farmers .

According to South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo, an official from South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said: "We deeply sympathize with the difficulties of the charter bus industry, but the Ministry of Strategy and Finance has the right to decide which groups to include."

In stark contrast to taxi drivers, who received subsidies, charter drivers were excluded from the first three rounds of government funding. And the fourth stimulus package still excludes charter drivers . Charter unions were angry that their drivers did not receive subsidies at all, and as a result, South Korea's charter drivers eventually broke out in small-scale protests.

In addition to chartered bus drivers, South Korean farmers are also confused by the latest stimulus plan.

The South Korean government said it excluded farmers from the latest grant because it was difficult to calculate the losses they suffered. But at the same time, the fourth relief package included suppliers of their products. Therefore, the Korea Advanced Farmers Federation lamented in a statement: "Farmers are not even citizens."

In response, Democratic Rep. Chung Sung-ho, chairman of the National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, said, "We will review the various industries that are missing from each standing committee and maximize bipartisan compromise in the budget committee. However, it is impossible to completely eliminate all blind spots in reality."

Grants

South Korea

Stimulus package