Starting tomorrow, consumer coupons will be distributed (in earnest), so sell a lot of (goods) and become rich.
Koo Yun-cheol, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, visited Jeongdon Galbam Hanwoo in the Chungnam Gongju Mountain Fortress market on the 21st and said this. As the first Deputy Prime Minister of the Lee Jae-myung government, Deputy Prime Minister Koo visited Gongju Mountain Fortress market as his first field activity after taking office to check if consumer coupons for recovery of livelihoods were being used smoothly.
That day, Deputy Prime Minister Koo directly purchased peaches, Hanwoo beef, and other items using Onnuri Gift Certificates, checking the price trends of fresh foods such as fruits and meat. He visited a fruit store named Pongnyeon Sanghoe and asked, 'How are the prices of watermelons these days?'
When the Pongnyeon Sanghoe representative replied, 'There are many people looking for watermelons in the summer, so the price has temporarily risen,' Deputy Prime Minister Koo responded, 'It’s a relief that it’s temporary.' He also visited a butcher shop and said, 'Many people expressed that they would eat Hanwoo once the consumer coupons are distributed,' and added, 'Does this mean sales will rise significantly starting tomorrow?'
Consumer coupons were newly introduced in the supplementary budget to promote domestic consumption. This program allows all citizens to receive between 150,000 won and 550,000 won per person, and applications can be made online or offline starting today. The received consumer coupons can be used at business sites with annual sales of 3 billion won or less within the jurisdiction of the address registered on the resident registration until November 30.
Deputy Prime Minister Koo believes that consumer coupons will significantly contribute to expanding the sales of small business owners and self-employed individuals who have faced difficulties. He said, 'The public must consume evenly for small business owners and the self-employed to survive.' He continued, 'Money needs to circulate in the market now,' and stated, 'In the short term, I will do my best to overcome the difficult economy and establish mid- to long-term measures to enable automatic increases in consumption.'
In response to concerns that prices may rise due to consumer coupons, he stated that it is not true, noting, 'In general, demand has fallen, leading to a situation where inventories are stacking up.' Deputy Prime Minister Koo remarked, 'If excessive demand arises for specific items, we are also considering increasing supply.' He also said, 'We will develop into a truly great Korea, ensuring self-sufficiency, with the economy cycling positively, increasing income and consumption, and creating a thriving nation.'
At the market, Deputy Prime Minister Koo expressed his condolences to residents affected by flooding due to recent heavy rain. He mentioned, 'Climate variability is increasing,' and said, 'We will try to predict climate changes as much as possible and allocate the maximum budget to prevent (natural disasters).'
Deputy Prime Minister Koo stated that all available government resources, including disaster and disaster response expenses and special grants for disaster safety, would be mobilized to swiftly implement recovery projects and support victims. The Ministry of Economy and Finance is preparing to secure resources in advance to ensure swift support as soon as special disaster areas are declared. The ministry plans to actively expand financial investment to prevent flooding of rivers and road inundation due to heavy rain in next year's budget formulation.