Next Year's Budget of 638.7 Trillion Won Passed by National Assembly... Cabinet Meeting Approval on 27th

Next Year's Budget Bill Passed Early Morning on the 24th
(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Baek Seung-ryeol = At around 12:55 a.m. on the 24th, the 2023 budget bill was passed in the National Assembly plenary session. 2022.12.24
srbaek@yna.co.kr
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[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Jun-hyung] The government budget for next year (based on total expenditure) has been finalized at 638.7 trillion won. This is the second consecutive year that the government budget has exceeded 600 trillion won, following last year. The government plans to approve the budget for next year at the Cabinet meeting on the 27th.

The National Assembly held a plenary session in the early morning of the 24th and approved the 2023 budget at 638.7 trillion won (based on total expenditure). This is 300 billion won less than the government-submitted budget (639 trillion won). The amounts reduced and increased in the budget were 4.6 trillion won and 3.9 trillion won, respectively.

This is the first time since 2020 that the total government expenditure has decreased. The growth rate of total expenditure for next year is 5.1%, which is 0.1 percentage points lower than the government proposal (5.2%). Total revenue for next year is projected at 625.7 trillion won, 300 billion won less than the government proposal (625.9 trillion won).

Next year's national debt is projected at 1,134.4 trillion won, which is 400 billion won less than the government proposal (1,134.8 trillion won). This decrease is due to the reduction in total government expenditure and the issuance scale of foreign exchange stabilization fund bonds. The ratio of national debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) remains unchanged at 49.8%, the same as the government proposal.

The managed fiscal balance to GDP ratio also remained unchanged from the government proposal at 2.6%. The integrated fiscal balance to GDP ratio is expected to maintain 0.6%, consistent with the government proposal.

The budget increase was largest in the areas supporting the livelihood economy and vulnerable groups. First, the supply of public jeonse rental housing units was expanded by 7,000 units, increasing the budget by 663 billion won. The energy voucher budget for low-income vulnerable groups was increased by 8.5 billion won. Accordingly, the energy voucher support amount will rise by 10,000 won from the existing 185,000 won per year to 195,000 won. The agricultural and food voucher support, provided to households below 50% of the median income, was expanded from 28,000 households to 48,000 households, increasing the budget by 5.9 billion won.

The budget for supporting the semiconductor industry also increased significantly. First, the budget for infrastructure installation such as power and water supply in the Gyeonggi Yongin and Pyeongtaek industrial complexes, which are scheduled to be designated as semiconductor specialized complexes, was increased by 100 billion won. The budget for semiconductor specialized universities to train advanced semiconductor personnel increased by 6 billion won, expanding from 6 to 8 universities. The budget for establishing a semiconductor education center was also increased by 20 billion won. The education center will provide customized education for semiconductor-related workers, university students, and prospective entrepreneurs.

Safety investments to prevent a recurrence of the Itaewon disaster were also strengthened. Specifically, an additional 1.4 billion won was allocated to build an 'On-site Crowd Management System' that sends disaster messages based on location information. The budget for developing crowd accident risk analysis and warning technology was increased by 600 million won. The budget for replacing aging ambulances to enable rapid on-site dispatch by 119 emergency teams and regional disaster medical assistance teams (DMAT) was increased by 4.2 billion won.

The government plans to submit and approve the 'Consent to the National Assembly's Budget Increase for 2023 and Budget Announcement Plan' and the '2023 Budget Allocation Plan' at the Cabinet meeting on the 27th. The government intends to allocate 75% of the total expenditure budget in the first half of the year to support livelihood safety and early economic recovery. A Ministry of Economy and Finance official said, "We will swiftly prepare and proceed with preliminary procedures so that budget execution can begin simultaneously with the start of the fiscal year on the 1st of next month."

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