Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki and Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol met Thursday for the first time in roughly a year and discussed financial measures for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.

The two officials met as Hong chaired a meeting on macroeconomic issues which was also attended by Financial Services Commission Chairman Eun Sung-soo and Financial Supervisory Service Governor Yoon Suk-heun.

Hong said there is a need to maintain expansionary financial policies to tackle the pandemic as damages remain related to the third wave. 

The minister said along with an extra budget, the government plans to inject 495 trillion won into financing policies to tackle the pandemic. This amount is up 16 trillion won from what the government initially planned last year. 

Hong added that related agencies will swiftly hold discussions and come up with a decision by early next month on a program that extends loan principal payment terms and defers interest payments for small businesses. 

It was first implemented in March of last year to help small-and medium-sized businesses devastated by the pandemic and is set to conclude at the end of next month.