By Alimat Aliyeva

South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol has ordered the launch of a 25 trillion won ($18 billion) small business assistance program, Azernews reports.

"Micro-business owners have been most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and are still in a difficult situation. Instead of populist cash distribution, our plan provides for the allocation of substantial, carefully thought-out assistance to small entrepreneurs who urgently need support for structural reforms," the agency quotes the president as saying at a meeting in Seoul to discuss the country's economic policy in the second half of the year.

The program provides, in particular, for the restructuring of debts of small companies that they made during the pandemic, subsidies to repay their utility bills, as well as tax benefits to real estate owners who rent out premises to small businesses on favorable terms.

Measures to help small businesses are also designed to expand domestic demand and support the economic situation in the country. The opposition in South Korea demands to distribute 250 thousand won ($180 thousand) in cash to the population for the same purpose, but the authorities reject this proposal as populist.