Gwangju City, Livelihood and Economic Stability... Supplementary Budget of 717.4 Billion Won Formulated

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City submitted a supplementary budget of 6.6686 trillion won, increased by 717.4 billion won, to the city council on the 28th to protect the local economy from COVID-19 and support citizens experiencing severe economic difficulties.

This supplementary budget was organized with a focus on stabilizing people's livelihoods and the local economy, such as revitalizing the local economy and creating jobs, following the first supplementary budget of 238.9 billion won last month for early overcoming of COVID-19.

The main funding sources include an additional tax revenue of 105.6 billion won from local taxes, 18.9 billion won from non-tax revenue, and 321.6 billion won from national subsidies. To respond to the COVID-19 crisis, 105 billion won was utilized from funds such as the fiscal stabilization fund, and 90 billion won in local bonds was inevitably issued to promote urgent pending projects.

Additionally, to help citizens affected by COVID-19 and revive the local economy, efforts were made to secure resources through expenditure restructuring of 57.3 billion won, including reductions in general administrative expenses, budgets for canceled or scaled-down events, overseas business travel expenses, and under-executed construction costs.

Following the support of 91 billion won for emergency household living expenses in Gwangju last month, the recent government emergency disaster relief fund of 331.3 billion won was reflected. If the government’s supplementary budget bill is approved by the National Assembly, support will proceed without delay.

To protect the local economy from COVID-19, a public job budget was allocated to stabilize citizens' lives by providing public-type jobs directly related to citizens' daily lives, such as quarantine activities, environment, care, and transportation.

This aims to create jobs for more than 12,000 citizens, including about 1,000 COVID-19 response daily quarantine jobs, about 8,200 public-type jobs such as illegal advertisement cleanup, and support for hiring about 3,600 people in small business owners and manufacturing SMEs.

To lead the 4th Industrial Revolution, a core task of the 7th elected administration, and to build “Gwangju, an AI-centered city,” 6.8 billion won was allocated, reflecting a total of 29.4 billion won for R&D projects to foster future new industries.

Investments were made to ensure the smooth progress of urgent local projects, including 36.7 billion won for the construction of Urban Railway Line 2, 8.1 billion won for installing unmanned traffic enforcement equipment in school zones, and 6 billion won for the park sunset system (financial parks).

Furthermore, to build a just and prosperous Gwangju, 9 billion won was allocated for the purchase of the former Gwangju Red Cross Hospital, a 5.18 historical site; 300 million won for creating a cultural space at the 5.18 Democracy and Human Rights Plaza; 2 billion won for the construction of the Labor Human Rights Center; and 5.2 billion won for the establishment of the municipal arboretum.

Kim Jong-hyo, Deputy Mayor for Administration, said, “We will do our best to stabilize people’s livelihoods and revive the local economy by concentrating all available resources and capabilities to overcome the emergency situation early for citizens suffering from COVID-19.”

Meanwhile, the submitted second supplementary budget bill will be finalized at the plenary session on the 15th of next month after going through the city council’s standing committee. Gwangju City plans to promptly execute the budget immediately upon city council approval so that urgent funds can be injected without delay.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.