Ando-Geol Ahn "Mid-term funds should be supported more in Honam, which is lower than the national average."

(Jeonju = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Young-su = It has been pointed out that the Bank of Korea should focus more financial support on the Honam region, which has a weak economy, in order to reduce the interest burden on local small and medium-sized enterprises and alleviate the concentration of bank loans in the metropolitan area.

On the 16th, Rep. And Do-geol (Democratic Party of Korea) of the National Assembly's Finance and Economic Planning Committee proposed this during a government audit of the Bank of Korea's Jeonbuk, Chungbuk, Gwangju-Jeonnam, and Mokpo headquarters, Daejeon and Gwangju Regional Tax Offices, Gwangju Headquarters Customs, and Honam and Chungcheong Regional Data Offices.

At the National Assembly inspection held at the Bank of Korea's Jeonbuk headquarters, Rep. Ahn pointed out, "The Bank of Korea operates a support program for local small and medium-sized enterprises, but the level of support in Honam is significantly lower than that in other regions."

In fact, this year's small and medium-sized business funding ratio was 12.2% in Jeonbuk, 12.5% ​​in Gwangju-Jeonnam and Mokpo, 15.3% in Daejeon and Sejong and South Chungcheong Provinces, 16.4% in Ulsan, 16.5% in Busan, 16.8% in Gyeongnam, 19.3% in North Chungcheong Province, and 19.6% in Daegu and Gyeongbuk and Pohang.

As such, the average for regions excluding Honam was 17.3%, 5.1 percentage points higher than Jeonbuk and 4.6 percentage points higher than Gwangju, Jeonnam, and Mokpo.

Rep. Ahn emphasized, "If you look at this year's gross regional product (GRDP), the metropolitan area and Chungcheong area are continuing to grow at a high rate of 5%, but the Honam area is showing 0% growth," and added, "We need to provide more support to the Honam area, which is experiencing difficult economic and economic conditions, by considering future funding needs first."