Handuksoo: "Passage of 62 Trillion Won Supplementary Budget, a Good Precedent for Ruling and Opposition Cooperation"

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is presiding over an extraordinary Cabinet meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 30th. At the Cabinet meeting, the second supplementary budget plan worth 62 trillion won will be reviewed and approved. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] On the 29th, Prime Minister Han Deok-su said on the 30th that the National Assembly's passage of the second supplementary budget bill (supplementary budget) worth 62 trillion won at the plenary session was "a good precedent of passing on the scheduled date through a kind of cooperation between the ruling and opposition parties for the first time."

At 8 a.m. that day, Prime Minister Han presided over an extraordinary Cabinet meeting at the Government Seoul Office to handle the supplementary budget bill. In his opening remarks, he said, "As these kinds of events accumulate, trust between the ruling and opposition parties also builds up, and I think this is a kind of first step toward the ruling and opposition parties agreeing on more important and bigger national agendas in the future. I think it is very meaningful."

Prime Minister Han emphasized that the current administration's economic policy is to expand and strongly implement policies for market economy, autonomy, fairness, and community, and said there are four meanings in this supplementary budget.

First, regarding this supplementary budget, Prime Minister Han explained that it reflects the economic policy philosophy of the Yoon Seok-yeol government to provide strong support for socially vulnerable groups. He said, "Until the fiscal situation becomes very abundant and comfortable, strengthening policies for these groups (socially vulnerable) is the first principle. This is the first concrete economic policy of the current government toward that goal."

He also evaluated that it clearly showed the intention to strengthen mid- to long-term fiscal soundness both domestically and internationally. Regarding this, he mentioned, "Our national debt now exceeds 1,000 trillion won," and added, "The repayment of 7.5 trillion won in government bonds this time means that the new government will manage these bonds stably."

Prime Minister Han said that with this supplementary budget as the last, the payment of disaster relief funds, which is not legally defined in terms of scale or target, will end, and "from now on, it will change to a complete, transparent, and certain compensation system."

He added, "Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered South Korea's growth rate for this year from the initial 3% forecast to 2.5% due to the Ukraine crisis and supply chain disruptions," and said, "It is predicted that this supplementary budget can raise the growth rate by about 0.2 percentage points."

President Yoon Seok-yeol is expected to promptly approve the supplementary budget bill, so the payment of COVID-19 loss compensation is likely to begin as early as the afternoon of the same day.

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