[Provided by Daegu city government]
[Provided by Daegu city government]

Daegu Mayor Choo Kyung-ho has called on local financial institutions to step up lending and broaden their contribution to the regional economy to help small businesses and self-employed merchants struggling with financial difficulties.

Choo held a meeting Thursday at the Sangyeok government complex with representatives from 12 financial institutions, including the Bank of Korea's Daegu-North Gyeongsang Province branch, the Financial Supervisory Service's Daegu-North Gyeongsang Province office, the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, the Daegu Credit Guarantee Foundation, and KB, Hana, Shinhan, Woori, iM, Nonghyup, IBK and Korea Development Bank.

"Although economic indicators look positive thanks to strong performance in some sectors such as semiconductors, the livelihoods of ordinary citizens remain difficult due to the polarization driven by K-shaped growth," Choo said, calling for a greater role from the financial sector.

Choo asked institutions to expand liquidity supply to ease cash-flow problems for small and medium-sized enterprises and self-employed merchants, and to actively introduce measures to reduce financial burdens — including preferential interest rates, loan maturity extensions and principal repayment deferrals.

Choo also requested expanded special contributions to the Daegu Credit Guarantee Foundation to support micro-businesses with insufficient collateral, and asked for region-tailored financial products for economically vulnerable industries such as construction.

Choo further called for expanded support for young entrepreneurs, including startup funding, internship programs and job fairs.

The financial institutions said they sympathized with the difficulties facing local businesses and self-employed merchants, and pledged to actively review plans to increase their special contributions to the Daegu Credit Guarantee Foundation in 2027 beyond this year's level.

Daegu plans to expand its small and medium-sized enterprise management stabilization fund next year to 1.5 trillion won ($1.12 billion), a 20 percent increase from this year's 1.25 trillion won, while raising the support rate by up to 2.5 percentage points.

The city also plans to increase its credit guarantee supply to at least 2.4 trillion won to help local businesses and self-employed merchants overcome funding shortfalls.

"For local financial institutions to maintain a stable business foundation, small and medium-sized enterprises and self-employed merchants must grow," Choo said. "I urge financial institutions to take a more proactive stance in supporting our struggling regional economy."


kbj7653@heraldcorp.com