South Korea plans to provide an additional 800 billion won, or 717-point-seven million U.S. dollars, in cheap loans to small and mid-sized enterprises(SMEs) and startups this year.

The government said Thursday it will allocate the funds through the supplementary budget by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.

The money will augment the existing amount set aside for SMEs this year, three-point-eight trillion won.

Small businesses can have difficulty accessing primary commercial banking services despite having major potential, but can now tap the special policy funds at annual interest rates of  between two percent and three-point-35 percent.