Government Executes Over 90% of 8.9 Trillion Won First Supplementary Budget... 99.5% of Second Payment Completed

An Il-hwan Vice Minister: "The Effect of the 3rd Supplementary Budget Lies in Speed and Timing"

Ahn Il-hwan, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, is delivering opening remarks while presiding over the 'Emergency Fiscal Management Inspection Meeting' held on the 9th at the Sejong Government Complex.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] The government has executed more than 90% of the 9.9 trillion won first supplementary budget (supplementary budget) for responding to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) crisis, amounting to 8.9 trillion won. Additionally, the emergency disaster support fund secured through the second supplementary budget was paid to 21.6 million households (99.5% of the total 21.71 million households) by the 7th, about a month after the payment began, totaling 13.6 trillion won (95.4% of the total 14.3 trillion won).

On the 9th, Ahn Il-hwan, Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance, held the "10th Emergency Fiscal Management Inspection Meeting" at the Government Complex Sejong and stated, "Since the first quarter, the government has been mobilizing all fiscal capabilities to actively manage finances to overcome the unprecedented economic crisis caused by COVID-19."

Vice Minister Ahn diagnosed, "Through these policy efforts, fiscal measures helped minimize the economic contraction in the first quarter, but the economic conditions facing the fiscal situation in the second quarter remain a situation that cannot be taken lightly."

He added, "With the global pandemic of COVID-19 entering the second quarter, our economy continues to see a sharp decline in exports, industrial production centered on manufacturing is shrinking, and the employment market shock is intensifying. In this severe economic situation where the real economy contraction is becoming full-scale, the government must play a greater role as a catalyst for economic recovery through bolder and more active fiscal management."

Vice Minister Ahn emphasized, "The effectiveness of the third supplementary budget lies in speed and timing. Since the supplementary budget must be executed quickly to maximize fiscal effects, I earnestly hope that the supplementary budget bill submitted by the government will be promptly reviewed by the National Assembly and executed."

He continued, "The government will also ensure that the fiscal projects included in this supplementary budget begin execution immediately upon passage by the National Assembly, and that more than 75% of major projects are executed within three months by thoroughly preparing execution plans and pre-execution preparations for each project."

Furthermore, he added, "This year as well, we will manage without any setbacks to achieve the execution target of early execution of 62.0% of the fiscal projects from the main budget and the first and second supplementary budgets within the first half of the year."

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