Choo Kyung-ho on Budget Agreement Failure: "Squeezing a Dry Towel... Cannot Cut More Than 5 Trillion Won"

Opposition Demands 5 Trillion Won Cut in Next Year's Budget
"Next Year's Budget Growth Rate at 5.2%, Much Lower Than Moon Administration... Possible Maximum Cut of 2.5 to 3 Trillion Won"

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] On the 9th, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho commented on the breakdown of ruling and opposition party negotiations regarding next year's budget proposal, stating, "The opposition party is demanding a reduction of more than 5 trillion won from the budget, which the government submitted after tightening its belt, based on the premise of the expansionary (budget) policies of the past Moon Jae-in administration."

Deputy Prime Minister Choo held an emergency press briefing at the Government Complex Seoul on the same day regarding the 2023 budget proposal, stating, "The increase rate of next year's main budget is 5.2%, which is much lower than the average expenditure growth rate of 8.6% during the five years of the Moon Jae-in administration."

In response to the Democratic Party of Korea's demand to cut more than 5 trillion won from the 639 trillion won budget proposal submitted by the government, Deputy Prime Minister Choo rebutted that since the budget was already tight, the opposition party's calculations do not add up, and there is little room for reduction.

Choo said, "The opposition party claims a reduction of more than 5 trillion won because they cut about 1% based on the past main budget," adding, "However, since the expenditure growth rate is 5.2%, not 8.6% as in the past, their calculations are off from the start." He further emphasized, "The previous government ran the household budget by borrowing to an extent that raised concerns about sound fiscal management. Under the recognition that continuing this way could trigger a fiscal and national economic crisis, we have prepared a very tight fiscal budget."

Deputy Prime Minister Choo explained that the government also prepared the budget on the principle of sound fiscal management by reducing discretionary spending, which the government can arbitrarily increase or decrease, by about 7 trillion won.

He stated, "Excluding local allocation tax, expenditures increase by about 1.9%, which is about a quarter compared to the previous government's 8.5%," and added, "The government's concession capacity is about 1.3 trillion won." He continued, "The government is trying to reduce the budget by about 2.5 to 3 trillion won, but the opposition party demands 5 trillion won. Due to the difficulty in narrowing this gap regarding reductions, the negotiations broke down."

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