Hong Nam-ki "Nationwide Disaster Relief Fund Difficult This Year Due to Conditions"

National Assembly Budget Committee Comprehensive Policy Inquiry

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki is answering a lawmaker's question during the comprehensive policy inquiry at the Budget and Accounts Special Committee held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of the 8th. 2021.11.8 Photo by National Assembly Press Photographers [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, repeatedly expressed a negative stance on the ruling party's demand for 'universal disaster relief payments' on the 8th, saying, "Given the circumstances, there will likely be no supplementary budget (추경) this year, and it seems difficult in many ways."

Deputy Prime Minister Hong made this remark in response to a related question from Ryu Seong-gil, a member of the People Power Party, during the comprehensive policy inquiry of the National Assembly's Budget and Accounts Special Committee in the afternoon.

When Rep. Ryu confirmed again, "If additional disaster relief payments are to be made, a supplementary budget must be passed this year; otherwise, payments cannot be made this year," Hong replied, "Yes. Well, considering the scale of the required funds..." effectively agreeing that it would be difficult within this year.

The day before, Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, reiterated the necessity of universal disaster relief payments through his social media (SNS), stating, "The national treasury is filling up," and "This year's excess tax revenue is expected to be about 40 trillion won."

In response, Hong said, "When the second supplementary budget was passed in July, 31.5 trillion won of the excess tax revenue was already accounted for in revenue adjustments and used for expenditures, and a bit more may come in afterward," adding, "(The scale) will be in the trillion won range." When Rep. Ryu further asked, "Is it about 10 trillion won?" Hong replied, "It seems to be a bit more than that."

Regarding this, Rep. Ryu said, "If the candidate Lee's proposal to pay 300,000 to 500,000 won per person is implemented, the required funds would be 15 to 25 trillion won. Even if the excess tax revenue is 10 trillion won, after excluding local allocation tax and national debt repayment, only 3 trillion won remains," and questioned, "Even if the government and ruling party conduct a supplementary budget this year, 15 to 25 trillion won is needed, but only 3 trillion won remains, so 12 to 22 trillion won would have to be raised through national bond issuance. Does that make sense?" Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum also responded, "That approach seems somewhat unreasonable."

Earlier that morning, Park Wan-joo, the Democratic Party Policy Committee Chair, mentioned in a radio interview regarding funding plans for universal disaster relief payments, "A third supplementary budget within this year is tight, but we can consider options such as the main budget next year, supplementary budget before the presidential election, or supplementary budget after the presidential election."

Meanwhile, according to a survey conducted by the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) commissioned by TBS from the 5th over two days targeting 1,009 people nationwide aged 18 and over, 60.1% responded that "payments should not be made because it would burden the finances." For detailed information, please refer to the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission and KSOI websites.

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