SEOUL-- The National Assembly on Sunday passed a 62 trillion-won (US$49.4 billion) extra budget bill to support small merchants affected by the pandemic, just three days before the local elections.

The bill was approved in a 246-1 vote with five abstentions in a plenary session after the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) agreed to add 2.6 trillion won to the 59.4 trillion won proposed by the government.

The largest-ever extra budget -- the first under the Yoon Suk-yeol government and the eighth during the pandemic -- calls for a 39 trillion won spending plan, including cash handouts to small merchants, and 23 trillion won in grants to regional governments.

Under the agreement, some 3.71 million merchants and micro business owners will be eligible for cash handouts of between 6 million won and 10 million won each.

The PPP and the DP also agreed to provide 2 million won to freelance workers and artists, up from 1 million won in the proposed extra budget.

The extra budget is mainly aimed at supporting pandemic-hit merchants and antivirus efforts and stabilizing people's livelihoods amid high inflation, officials said.

Officials said no state bonds will be issued to finance the extra budget, which will rely on the government's extra revenue.

On Monday, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will hold a Cabinet meeting to review the budget. If approved, the government will begin distributing the handouts to pandemic-hit merchants as early as later that day.

Source: Yonhap News Agency