Over 70% of cash handouts to be doled out to pandemic-hit merchants this month: minister

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Tuesday the government plans to provide more than 70 percent of emergency relief funds to small merchants hard hit by the pandemic over the next two weeks.

The move is aimed at accelerating the provision of cash handouts to pandemic-stricken merchants as the country is grappling with the fourth wave of the pandemic.

The country plans to provide a total of 4.22 trillion won ($3.6 billion) in relief aid to micro business owners by the end of September as it created this year's second extra budget of 34.9 trillion won in July.

Hong said last week that the potential economic fallout of the current wave will be "inevitable" starting in August as an extended strict social distancing is feared to dampen domestic demand.

For over a month, the greater Seoul area, along with several non-capital areas, have been under the toughest-ever virus curbs, which include limiting business operations and banning certain types of private gatherings.

Later this week, the government plans to announce details about when it will begin to provide cash handouts to people in the bottom 88 percent income bracket.

The country may start to give the relief funds to those people right before the fall harvest Chuseok holiday scheduled for Sept. 20-22. (Yonhap)