Ministry of the Interior and Safety Launches Budget Execution and Local Subsidy Management System

Start of e-Hojo+ and Botaem-e Services

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 3rd that it has launched the next-generation local finance management system (e-Hojo+) to implement a local finance platform for managing local finance operations and the allocation and execution of local subsidies.

The next-generation local finance management system was built with a total of approximately 1,330 screens covering local finance operations such as budget execution, contracts, funds, assets, liabilities, and cash outside revenue and expenditure, as well as local subsidy management, and will handle the budgets of local governments totaling around 460 trillion won.

e-Hojo was developed with the goal of providing integrated, converged, and collaborative services from the previously dispersed tasks performed by individual local governments.

First, it improved the efficiency of local finance fund management by enabling real-time management of fund status and virtual account payments via smartphones, alleviating inconveniences for civil petitioners. Next, the infrastructure dispersed across 243 local governments was converted into an internet-based resource-sharing (cloud) environment, increasing management efficiency. Finally, with the upcoming launch of the online payment claim system and the resident participation budget system scheduled for August, accessibility and convenience for residents and local merchants are expected to expand.

To ensure transparent management of local subsidies, a new local subsidy system (Botaem-e) was established. Through this, the previously manual local subsidy management process has been digitized and automated to prevent duplicate and fraudulent subsidy claims and to efficiently manage local subsidy projects.

Botaem-e first integrates subsidy management information managed as ledgers by 243 local governments and establishes an online verification system linked with related systems to prevent duplicate and fraudulent claims. Additionally, the payment method has shifted from bulk local subsidy payments to depositing funds into dedicated subsidy accounts and making payments on a case-by-case basis, allowing local governments to check subsidy execution status and supporting documents in real time. Along with this, the entire local subsidy project procedure can now be performed through the system.

In this project, Botaem-e’s subsidy execution, project management, and public portal sections have been launched, and a full rollout including fraud prevention inspections is planned for January 2024. To ensure stable system use, the launch will be divided into phases: provinces in January and city/county/district levels in July.

Choi Byung-kwan, Director of the Local Finance and Economy Office at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, stated, “The two-phase launch of e-Hojo+ and Botaem-e lays the foundation for an integrated financial information management and fund status management platform, and will bring revolutionary changes in systematic management of local subsidies.” He added, “We will contribute to enhancing public trust by reducing local budgets and preventing fraudulent subsidy claims.”

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