South Korea's finance minister on Wednesday reiterated that the country has no plan to seek an extra budget as he stressed the importance of the private sector's role in revitalizing the economy.
"We must refrain from making additional debts to stimulate the economy, just because there are some concerns," Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said during a parliamentary session.
South Korea's tax revenue fell 36.4 trillion won (US$28 billion) in the first five months of 2023 from a year earlier, data showed last week, on weaker corporate performance and a slump in the local property market.
Choo said the country will utilize spare funds to cope with the falling tax revenue and emphasized that the economic recovery should be led by the private sector, instead of the government's support.
The finance minister hinted that the country will also avoid raising taxes.
"Amid the challenging economic situations and its impact on people's livelihoods, we cannot earn people's support by discussing raising taxes," Choo said. "We can expand our tax base if the economy recovers quickly."
The previous Moon Jae-in government drew up supplementary budgets 10 times from 2017 to 2022, totaling around 151 trillion won.
Source: Yonhap News Agency