Deputy Minister Koo Yoon-chul: "Health Crisis Easing, Economic Crisis Feared to Intensify"

"Full Effort Needed for Economic Quarantine... All Administrative Resources Mobilized"
86.7% of the First Supplementary Budget Executed... Execution Target Exceeded

Koo Yoon-chul, Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance, is delivering opening remarks while presiding over the "6th Emergency Fiscal Management Review Meeting" held on the 1st at the Government Seoul Office in Gwanghwamun, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] Koo Yoon-cheol, Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance, said on the 1st, "Although the health crisis has noticeably entered a calming phase, there is a concern that the economic crisis may intensify."

On the same day, Vice Minister Koo chaired the '6th Emergency Fiscal Management Review Meeting' at the Government Seoul Office and stated, "As we enter the second quarter, complacency is not an option."

He emphasized, "The global economic contraction forecast due to the worldwide pandemic of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) could also pose a significant burden on our economy," adding, "In the second quarter, fiscal officials must devote all efforts to economic quarantine measures to protect the livelihoods, jobs, and industrial competitiveness of businesses."

In particular, he explained, "The second supplementary budget (supplementary budget) of 14.3 trillion won, passed by the National Assembly on the 29th of last month, will serve as a minimum safety net for our citizens facing livelihood and job crises," and added, "We have tried to minimize bond issuance by promoting emergency disaster relief funds through expenditure restructuring (7.1 trillion won) and utilizing resources such as funds (1.7 trillion won)."

He continued, "Through the 10.1 trillion won 'Special Employment Stability Measures,' we will swiftly absorb employment shocks and promote the Korean New Deal to create new jobs connected to the digital economy transition and the post-COVID era, thereby robustly protecting citizens' jobs."

He also stated, "We will prepare corporate stabilization measures exceeding 75 trillion won, including the establishment of a 40 trillion won fund for stabilizing key industries," and expressed, "We must also steadily promote the expansion of public sector purchases such as advance payments and pre-purchases for industries severely hit by COVID-19, including the food service, floriculture, and aviation sectors."

He urged, "Each ministry and local government should promptly implement domestic demand supplementation tasks worth 3.3 trillion won, such as advance payments and pre-purchases, and advancing government and public investments, to contribute to revitalizing domestic demand."

Vice Minister Koo said, "If policies to overcome the economic crisis miss the golden time for crisis resolution, we may face even greater difficulties," and added, "I ask that all administrative capabilities be fully mobilized in preparation and execution processes to ensure government policies reach the people as quickly as possible."

Meanwhile, the first supplementary budget of 9.9 trillion won, passed by the National Assembly in March, was executed at 6.3 trillion won (64.0%) by the end of March and 8.6 trillion won (86.7%) by the 28th of last month, exceeding the execution target (75% within two months after National Assembly approval).

Early execution of central finances (45 ministries and 33 public institutions) also reached 108.6 trillion won (35.3%) in the first quarter, the highest level in the past 10 years.

As a result of active fiscal execution, government finances contributed 0.2 percentage points to growth in the first quarter, helping to minimize the first-quarter negative growth (-1.4 percentage points).

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