[2020 National Audit] Last Year's Supplementary Budget for 19 Projects Spent Less Than Half

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] Among the projects funded by last year's supplementary budget (추경), 19 projects had an actual execution rate of less than half.

According to the '2019 Supplementary Budget Project Actual Execution Status' received by Jang Hyeyoung, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, out of the supplementary budget of 5.8 trillion KRW allocated last year, 674.8 billion KRW (12%) was not executed last year. The supplementary budget is additionally allocated considering urgency, and the principle is that it should be fully executed within the relevant year.

In July last year, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance revealed that 149.5 billion KRW was unexecuted, but through this internal investigation, it was found that a total of 674.8 billion KRW was not executed.

There were 239 projects increased or newly allocated through last year's supplementary budget, of which 57 projects, accounting for 25%, did not achieve an execution rate of 90% by the end of the year. 19 projects had an execution rate of less than 50%.

Among the projects with an execution rate of 50% or less, most were related to fine dust. The Ministry of Environment's air quality improvement promotion project and the remote monitoring system construction project for smokestacks had execution rates of 47.8% and 14.7%, respectively. The Korea Forest Service's fine dust reduction urban forest creation and management project executed only 12.2% of its budget.

Although a fire safety budget was allocated due to the Goseong wildfire incident last year, related projects such as the Central 119 Special Rescue Team support project and fire safety and facility standards development project by the National Fire Agency showed execution rates remaining in the 20% range.

Assembly member Jang said, "The supplementary budget is required by the National Finance Act to be allocated only in exceptional situations, and the principle is to execute 100% within the relevant year," adding, "It seems the government allocated the supplementary budget in a haphazard manner without considering the urgency and feasibility of execution within the year."

He added, "The Ministry of Strategy and Finance emphasizes fiscal rules but allocates unnecessary budget projects and fails to manage execution afterward," and said, "The Ministry of Strategy and Finance must faithfully perform its fundamental duties as the fiscal authority that it can and should do immediately."

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