Seoul City Forms Third Supplementary Budget... 2.23 Trillion Won Invested for 'Post-Corona' Preparedness

Overcoming Economic Crisis through Digital, Green New Deal, and Youth-Specialized Job Creation
Accelerating Climate Change Response and Smart City Realization

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government has prepared an additional supplementary budget exceeding 2 trillion won to overcome the unprecedented social and economic crisis caused by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and to proactively prepare for the 'post-COVID' era, which will be completely different from before. This means that a total supplementary budget of about 6 trillion won has been prepared in three rounds during the first half of the year, following those in March and May.

On the 7th, Seoul announced that it had formulated the '2020 3rd Supplementary Budget' worth 2.239 trillion won, focusing on the Green New Deal, revitalization of the local economy, and startup investment, and submitted it to the City Council on the 5th of this month for deliberation.

If this supplementary budget is approved, Seoul's budget for this year will increase by 5.3% from the originally fixed 2020 budget of 42.4678 trillion won to 44.7068 trillion won. The funding will be secured through ▲ 1.6512 trillion won from the 2019 fiscal year settlement surplus ▲ 441.5 billion won from national subsidies and local allocation tax ▲ -28.3 billion won from non-tax revenue ▲ 292.2 billion won from local bonds ▲ and -117.6 billion won from other account transfers and deposit income.

The city will first invest 306 billion won to create 51,000 jobs for youth in digital and green new deals to mitigate the employment shock caused by COVID-19. It will increase the number of hiring incentives for Seoul-type small and strong enterprises that newly hire young people and expand the social safety net for delivery workers.

Additionally, the city will invest 75 billion won in Green New Deal projects to overcome the current crisis and stimulate the economy. The goal is to transform the current fossil fuel-centered economic industrial system paradigm into an eco-friendly economic system to simultaneously overcome the economic crisis and climate crisis.

Recognizing the growing importance of the contactless environment after COVID-19, 55 billion won has been allocated to accelerate the realization of a 'smart city,' which is a foundational technology supporting this environment and improving citizens' quality of life. Representative projects include building smart city communication infrastructure (49.1 billion won), establishing and operating the Seoul Fintech Lab (2.3 billion won), and introducing AI guide robots (900 million won).

To protect citizens suffering from the aftereffects of the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and to prepare for possible future disasters, 345.3 billion won will be invested. To promote the virtuous cycle of local capital through consumption in neighborhood markets and increased sales for small business owners, an additional 138 billion won worth of Seoul Love Gift Certificates will be sold at a 7% discount. Budgets have also been allocated for supporting small business owners and self-employed individuals, expanding sales channels for SMEs, and supporting public art artists.

Furthermore, 63.5 billion won has been allocated to seize new opportunities for promising startups in non-face-to-face and online service industries, and 26.5 billion won to strengthen 'local self-sustainability,' enabling local residents to solve regional problems themselves. To compensate for rent reductions (50% for six months) for small business owners renting city-owned assets and to promote SOC projects and national subsidy projects for the rapid recovery of Seoul's economy, 300.5 billion won has been allocated.

Park Won-soon, Mayor of Seoul, emphasized, "This supplementary budget focuses on two pillars: 'overcoming the crisis' caused by COVID-19 and preparing for the ecosystem changes in the 'post-COVID' era." He added, "We will turn the current crisis into a new opportunity and driving force for development."

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