Cash back for card spending under review to boost consumption: official

SEOUL-- South Korea plans to provide cash back rewards for credit card spending in a bid to revive domestic demand in the second half amid the pandemic, a senior government official said Friday.

The cash back scheme is part of measures under review to boost domestic demand in the second half as the government is seeking to draw up another extra budget to support vulnerable groups hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"(The cash back scheme) will be designed in a way that will help revive sluggish domestic demand and underpin an economic recovery in the second half," First Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon told a press briefing.

Under the plan, consumers will be able to receive the reward in cash for credit card spending made during a specific period.

Details have yet to be finalized, but the government plans to set the ceiling of cash back rewards per person in a bid to give such benefits to as many people as possible.

The government is drawing up this year's second extra budget without a debt sale in a bid to support smaller merchants and vulnerable people.

The country created an extra budget of 14.9 trillion won (US$13.2 billion) in March to finance the 20.7 trillion won of relief aid for the self-employed.

The finance ministry will unveil a package of measures to bolster domestic demand when it makes its second-half economic policy plans public later this month.

The government earlier said it will step up efforts to help Asia's fourth-largest economy grow more than 4 percent this year.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

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