[2020 National Audit] Hong Nam-ki "Cannot Agree" with Criticism of "Fiscal Rules as Anachronistic"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, said on the 22nd that he "cannot agree" with the criticism from a ruling party lawmaker who called the government's recently announced fiscal rules anachronistic.

On the 22nd, during the comprehensive audit of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee, when Yang Kyung-sook, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, pointed out that "the introduction of fiscal rules is anachronistic and an evasion of responsibility by those who caused the rapid increase in national debt," Hong responded, "I absolutely cannot agree with the statement that it is anachronistic."

Hong emphasized, "The government played a more expansionary fiscal role than ever in response to the COVID-19 crisis, but during the process of overcoming the crisis, we thought it necessary to respond because the rate of increase in national debt relative to gross domestic product (GDP) was quite rapid." He added, "Many advanced countries also introduced rules during the fiscal deterioration immediately after the crisis, and that is why we proposed them as well."

He also said, "Since there are various difficulties in immediately applying the fiscal rules, we introduced them along with supplementary measures that defer the application period to some extent."

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