[3rd Supplementary Budget] Hong Nam-gi: "3rd Supplementary Budget 35.3 Trillion Won... We Will Transition to a Leading-Type Economy"

2020 3rd Supplementary Budget

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, stated on the 29th of last month, "The government will make every effort to accelerate overcoming the economic crisis early and transition to a leading economy by leveraging the projects reflected in this supplementary budget (추경)."

On the same day, Deputy Prime Minister Hong held a briefing on the 3rd supplementary budget of 2020 at the Government Complex Sejong and said in his opening remarks, "The total scale of this supplementary budget is 35.3 trillion won, consisting of 11.4 trillion won in revenue adjustments and 23.9 trillion won in expenditure requirements."

He added, "If the government's efforts create synergy with the crisis-overcoming DNA of the people, we will be the first in the world to overcome the economic crisis," and "I am confident that we will become a country that recovers economically the fastest and strongest and leaps forward."

Deputy Prime Minister Hong explained that this 3rd supplementary budget focuses on ▲ revenue adjustments ▲ a 135 trillion won financial stability package ▲ a 10 trillion won special employment stability measure ▲ the Korean New Deal and support for economic recovery in the second half of the year.

Regarding the funding requirements, he said, "10.1 trillion won was secured through intensive expenditure restructuring of this year's budget projects, and 1.4 trillion won was covered by mobilizing surplus funds from eight funds including the Workers' Welfare Promotion Fund." He continued, "The remaining 23.8 trillion won will inevitably be raised through additional government bond issuance."

◆ "Financial Stability Support Package... Emergency Liquidity Supply" = First, emergency liquidity will be supplied to small business owners, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and key industries and companies. Deputy Prime Minister Hong said, "To supply 40 trillion won in emergency funds for small business owners and SMEs, about 1.93 trillion won will be invested through equity contributions to Korea Development Bank, Export-Import Bank of Korea, and Industrial Bank of Korea," and "For emergency liquidity supply of 42 trillion won to key industries and companies, 3.1 trillion won and a total of 500 billion won were allocated."

Deputy Prime Minister Hong stated, "Of the 10 trillion won special employment stability measures, excluding projects urgently supported by contingency funds, 8.9 trillion won in fiscal requirements were reflected in this supplementary budget." He said, "This includes 8.9 trillion won covering expanded employment retention subsidies (90 million won), emergency employment stability support funds (60 million won), creation of 550,000+a direct jobs (3.6 trillion won), and expansion of unemployment benefits under employment insurance (3.5 trillion won)."

◆ "76 Trillion Won Invested in the Korean New Deal... Preparing for Post-COVID" = Regarding the Korean New Deal, he said, "New Deal projects are not only short-term crisis recovery and job measures but also have the nature of preparing for the post-COVID era in the medium term."

He added, "The total investment scale is 76 trillion won from 2020 to 2025," and "We will invest 31.3 trillion won by 2022 and 45 trillion won by 2025 so that the public can feel the results of the New Deal."

He said, "We will invest 5.9 trillion won by 2022 to transform urban, spatial, and living infrastructure into environmentally friendly ones, and 400 billion won is reflected in the supplementary budget." Additionally, plans include selecting 100 promising green companies and promoting 1,000 green remodeling projects by 2022.

The government also plans to strengthen the employment safety net. Deputy Prime Minister Hong set five key tasks: establishing a nationwide employment safety net, stabilizing living and employment in blind spots, reforming future-adaptive vocational training systems, innovating industrial safety and working environments, and said, "We will invest 5 trillion won by 2022 and have reflected 1 trillion won in this supplementary budget."

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