[출처 게티이미지뱅크]
[헤럴드경제=문혜현 기자] The National Assembly pointed out the possibility of insufficient funds for Sunshine Loan 15, a financial support product for low-income people. There are concerns that the purpose of the system, which is to protect ordinary people exposed to illegal private financing, may not be achieved if the budget is insufficient in a situation where the size of the guarantee is increasing.
According to the financial and political circles on the 2nd, the National Assembly Budget Office raised the need to reexamine the scale of Sunshine Loan 15 contributions from the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency in its recently released ‘2025 Budget Analysis’ report.
Sunshine Loan 15 is a financial institution support project that guarantees bank loans so that low-income and low-credit people who are likely to access loan sharking and illegal private finance can use institutional finance. You can receive support if your personal credit score is in the bottom 20% or lower and your annual income is 35 million won or less, or your annual income is 45 million won or less. The loan limit is up to 20 million won and the interest rate is 15.9% per year.
The Financial Services Commission submitted the budget for next year’s Sunshine Loan 15 project to the National Assembly at 90 billion won, the same as this year’s budget. This figure was calculated by reflecting the target guarantee supply scale of 650 billion won and a business loss rate of 13.7%.
However, the Office of Budget Policy points out that this is essentially a reduction in the budget. Looking at the Sunshine Loan 15 guarantee supply plan and contribution allocation status, the National Happiness Fund guarantee supply size of 400 billion won was allocated this year, but no contribution will be made from next year.
The report said, “Sunshine Loan 15 was initially handled by the National Happiness Fund, but was transferred to the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency as it was expected that the fund’s resources would be depleted within the year,” and “Considering the trend of annual guarantee supply, more than 1 trillion won in guarantees will be needed in 2025.” It is expected that However, the 2025 budget plan is calculated based on the same guarantee supply target of 650 billion won as this year, so there is a risk of disruption in stable guarantee supply,” he explained.
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Last year, the scale of Sunshine Loan 15 guarantee supply amounted to KRW 1.3086 trillion, of which the subrogation amount amounted to KRW 504.9 billion. The size of the guarantee decreased slightly compared to 2022 (KRW 1.4305 trillion), but the amount of subrogation increased significantly from KRW 256.8 billion to KRW 504.9 billion. This year alone, 412.6 billion won was guaranteed and 274.4 billion won was subrogated as of June, already exceeding half of last year’s amount.
Accordingly, the budget policy paper argues that a plan must be prepared to secure financial resources for the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Services Commission. The report said, “At this point, there is virtually no possibility of securing sufficient financial resources for the National Happiness Fund,” and added, “The Financial Services Commission and the Financial Services Commission are taking specific measures, such as measures to secure financial resources to stably supply the amount of guarantees, which are expected to be over 1 trillion won. “There is a need to prepare,” he said.
Next, the Ministry of Budget and Policy said, “Considering the recent economic situation and trends in household debt, it is difficult to expect the demand for loan guarantee products, including Sunshine Loan 15, to decrease in the short term,” adding, “If a stable supply of guarantees is not achieved, low-income, low-income, and “This may result in the project failing to fully achieve its purpose, which is to help low-credit people use institutional finance,” he said.
