Record-Breaking Budget 'Abundant'... Jun Nak-yeong, Mayor of Gyeongju City, Approaches '2 Trillion Won Budget Era'

335 Billion KRW Increase from Initial Budget This Year

On the 20th, Jun Nak-yeong, Mayor of Gyeongju City, met with Kim Wan-seop, Director of the Budget Office at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, to actively request the inclusion of national funding for the ongoing priority projects promoted by the city.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yeo Jong-gu] Gyeongju City, Gyeongbuk Province, is on the verge of entering the era of a 2 trillion won budget, the largest ever assembled.

On the 29th, Gyeongju City submitted the first supplementary budget bill of this year to the city council, amounting to 1.9 trillion won (1.689 trillion won in the general account and 211 billion won in the special account), which is 335 billion won more than the original budget.

This is the largest budget ever, prepared to support the stabilization of people’s livelihoods suffering from high oil prices and inflation, and to revive the economy stagnated by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

To achieve this, Mayor Ju Nak-young frequently visited the National Assembly and central government ministries, expressing the difficulties of local finances and the necessity of promoting current projects, resulting in this achievement.

The revenue sources include 101.6 billion won in local allocation tax, 15.1 billion won in adjustment grants, 94.7 billion won in national subsidies, and 62 billion won in net surplus funds.

The city focused its budget on “fostering a world-class historical and cultural city” and “promoting advanced new growth industries” to drive economic development, as well as stabilizing the livelihood economy and revitalizing the local economy, which are suffering from COVID-19 and inflation.

Major expenditures include ▲97 billion won for Gyeongju Pay discount sales compensation support ▲2 billion won for free taxi operation support for seniors ▲300 million won for special guarantee support and interest subsidy for small business owners ▲2.6 billion won for price difference support for mineral fertilizers ▲9 billion won for Dongcheon~Hwangseong urban forest creation ▲6 billion won for the construction of the 2nd Geumjang Bridge ▲3 billion won for the opening of Heungmu-ro (Dongguk University Kindergarten~Dongdae Bridge) ▲4.5 billion won for road construction between Bomun and Gujeong ▲3 billion won for Hwangnam public parking lot creation ▲500 million won for commercial district renaissance support project ▲2.6 billion won for COVID-19 isolation hospitalization treatment expenses, etc.

Additionally, to create jobs and foster advanced new growth industries, the budget includes ▲4.7 billion won for the smart tourism city creation project ▲1.7 billion won for e-mobility battery shared station technology development and demonstration ▲5.2 billion won for domestic return investment and local investment promotion subsidies.

Mayor Ju Nak-young of Gyeongju said, “In the recent economic crisis caused by high oil prices and inflation, we focused on stabilizing people’s livelihoods and revitalizing the stagnant local economy for citizens facing difficulties. We will do our best for a new Gyeongju.”

The first supplementary budget bill will be deliberated and approved at the 270th Gyeongju City Council extraordinary session starting on the 5th of next month and is expected to be finally approved and confirmed on the 17th.

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