Government Ministries' Budget Requests for Next Year Near 600 Trillion Won... Record-Breaking Super Budget Expected

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] Government ministries have submitted expenditure plans for next year approaching 600 trillion won. This represents an increase of more than 6% compared to this year's budget, with the tasks of recovering from COVID-19 and resolving polarization. As the Moon Jae-in administration has publicly declared it will maintain an expansionary fiscal policy through the end of its term next year, there is a high possibility that an unprecedented “super budget” exceeding this will be formulated.

On the 3rd, the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced that the total budget and fund expenditure requested by each ministry for 2022 amounted to 593.2 trillion won, a 6.3% increase compared to this year's budget (558 trillion won). The ministry explained, "Each ministry requested the 2022 budget focusing on the needs for economic recovery, inclusion, and leap forward."

◆ Employment, Welfare, and Health Budgets Total 219 Trillion Won... 40% of the Entire Budget = Looking at each sector, 219 trillion won was requested for health, welfare, and employment, a 9.6% increase compared to this year's budget (199.7 trillion won). This accounts for 40% of the total expenditure requests from all ministries. The plan is to spend the budget on strengthening customized income, housing, and care safety nets, employment safety nets, and COVID-19 vaccine purchase and inoculation implementation.

In the education sector, 77.8 trillion won was requested, 9.2% more than this year's budget (71.2 trillion won), focusing on key investment elements such as Green Smart Schools and national scholarships. Excluding local education finance grants, the requested amount is about 18.2 trillion won, 2.0% more than the budget (18 trillion won). Using the same criteria, the culture, sports, and tourism sector requested 8.7 trillion won, a 2.2% increase, and the environment sector requested 12.4 trillion won, a 17.1% increase. The environment sector showed the highest growth rate among all sectors due to investments in Green New Deal and 2050 carbon neutrality implementation foundations, such as electric and hydrogen vehicle infrastructure and greenhouse gas reduction facilities support.

R&D and the industry, small and medium enterprises, and energy sectors submitted budgets of 29 trillion won and 29.6 trillion won, respectively, representing increases of 5.9% and 3.2% compared to this year. SOC requested 26.5 trillion won, and the agriculture, forestry, livestock, and food sector requested 22.9 trillion won. The defense budget request was 55.7 trillion won, a 5.0% increase from this year. Additionally, diplomacy and unification requested 5.8 trillion won, public order and safety 22.8 trillion won, and general and local administration 90.4 trillion won for next year. The general and local administration sector requested 32.7 trillion won excluding local grants. Due to the normalization of temporary expenditure projects such as local bond purchases and regional gift certificates, this figure is 0.6% less than this year.

◆ Super Budget Expected Again This Year = Considering the budget requests from each ministry, the actual budget for next year is likely to exceed 600 trillion won. As the Moon Jae-in administration approaches the end of its term next year, politically motivated populist budget allocations are expected, and President Moon has publicly mentioned maintaining an expansionary fiscal policy. Last year, the total budget requests collected from ministries amounted to 542.9 trillion won, but the actual budget was 558 trillion won, 2.8% higher.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance stated, "We will comprehensively consider next year's economic conditions, revenue and expenditure needs, and reflect additional requests due to policy changes after receiving the requests to formulate the budget. We will increase the efficiency of fiscal spending by reinvesting resources secured through strong expenditure restructuring into core tasks such as resolving K-shaped polarization."

The Ministry plans to compile and finalize the 2022 budget based on the ministries' requests and submit it to the National Assembly by September 3.

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