S. Korea to speed up execution of budget to prop up economy

SEOUL, South Korea’s finance ministry said Monday it plans to speed up budget spending in the first half of 2023 to cope with growing concerns over an economic slowdown.

 

The announcement came after the government earlier vowed to spend around 383 trillion won (US$294 billion), or 60 percent of its annual budget, over the January-June period to add vitality to the local economy.

 

As of end-February, the central and local governments had spent 92.4 trillion won of the national budget, along with the education sector, up 10.2 trillion won from the same period a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

 

The central government took up 49.5 trillion won, trailed by the regional governments with 41.1 trillion won and the education sector with 1.8 trillion won.

 

The ministry said it plans to spend 346 trillion won on the areas in the first half.

 

“As we have raised the spending target to address the risks over an economic slowdown, all related ministries should join forces to speed up the implementation,” the finance ministry said in a statement.

 

The combined amount of investment rolled out by state-run organizations, meanwhile, came to 7.4 trillion won as of February, which takes up 21.3 percent of the 34.8 trillion-won target set for the January-June period, the ministry added.

 

South Korea also spent 430 billion won on investment projects led by the private sector through February, which was around 19.5 percent of the 2.21 trillion won planned for the period.

 

Source: Yonhap News Agency

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