By Lee Kyung-min
A legislative move to set up the legal groundwork to protect small- and medium-sized enterprises hit by the COVID-19 pandemic is becoming politicized ahead of April mayoral by-elections, with the issue emerging as a major source of discord among top policymakers.
Presidential hopefuls as well as many other politicians are arguing for the highly populist policy in an apparent vote-seeking attempt, whereas the issue has become more of a short-lived power struggle defined by the prime minister overpowering the finance and vice finance ministers.
Experts say clearly targeted support for those companies that have experienced a drop in sales would be far better than across-the-board financial assistance, adding the expected budget shortfall can be filled by drastically removing spending plans allocated for repetitive, ineffective state-run projects.