The government has decided to extend the individual consumption tax cut for automobile buyers for another six months. 

Economy and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki announced the decision on Tuesday in a government meeting in Seoul. He said the tax cut, which was scheduled to expire at the end of this year, will be extended until June next year. 

The government has offered a 30 percent cut in individual consumption tax for buyers of passenger cars in a bid to boost consumption. 

The reduction to three-point-five percent from five percent was first implemented in July 2018 for 18 months but the deadline had been extended since then. 

In the first half of last year, amid the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government reduced the tax further to one-point-five percent, applying a 70-percent cut. The government returned to the 30-percent cut in the second half of last year and has extended that.