"Budget Reveals Government"… Yoon Urges Ministers to 'Familiarize Themselves with Other Ministries' Budgets'

"As a State Council member handling national affairs, you must pay attention"
"Please compare budgets and observe policy and tone changes"

President Yoon Suk-yeol on the 29th instructed cabinet members to "carefully examine the changes in policy priorities and government direction by comparing the budgets of past administrations and last year’s budget." This was a reiteration of the fiscal management stance regarding the '2024 Budget Proposal' deliberated and approved at the Cabinet meeting that day. The government formulated the 2024 budget with a total expenditure scale of 656.9 trillion won, reflecting the lowest growth rate (2.8%) since 2005.

In his closing remarks at the Cabinet meeting held at the Yongsan Presidential Office that morning, President Yoon said, "When you look at accounting, you see companies; when you look at the budget, you see the government," urging ministers to "thoroughly understand their respective ministries’ budget proposals for the next year and, as cabinet members managing state affairs, also pay attention to the budgets of other ministries."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On that day, the government prepared the next year’s budget at a scale of 657 trillion won. This is a 2.8% increase compared to this year’s main budget (639 trillion won), marking the lowest expenditure growth rate since fiscal statistics were reorganized in 2005. This fiscal restructuring, which blocked leakage factors amounting to 23 trillion won, was the result of a comprehensive reexamination of the validity and effectiveness of all fiscal projects.

President Yoon emphasized that the foundation of sound fiscal management lies in eliminating wasteful spending and cutting budgets related to vested interest cartels. He stated, "We will reject election vote-buying budgets and use the saved resources to provide stronger support for socially vulnerable groups," expressing his determination not to engage in vote-buying politics with money. He also criticized the previous Moon Jae-in administration’s budget stance as "wasteful fiscal management" and stressed, "We will reject fiscal omnipotence."

However, while transitioning the fiscal stance from expansionary to sound fiscal management, the government plans to continuously strengthen support for vulnerable groups and investments for future preparedness. In particular, next year’s welfare expenditure is set at 242.9 trillion won, a 7.5% (16.9 trillion won) increase compared to this year’s 226 trillion won. While the health sector budget was reduced by 5.1% due to a decrease in COVID-19 response spending, the social welfare budget for support such as basic living security, the elderly, and the disabled was increased by 8.7%. President Yoon said, "We will focus intensive support on three core areas: realizing true welfare for the vulnerable, strengthening the essential functions of the state such as defense and the rule of law, and securing growth engines for creating quality jobs," adding, "First, we will reject election vote-buying budgets and use the saved resources to provide stronger support for ordinary citizens, vulnerable groups, and the socially disadvantaged."

The next year’s budget includes measures for welfare of the disadvantaged such as ▲raising the livelihood benefit payment by 213,000 won ▲relaxing the standard median income from 30% to 32% ▲expanding senior jobs by 1.03 million compared to before and increasing allowances by 7% ▲providing additional childcare support to 32,000 single-parent families ▲raising the self-reliant youth allowance from 400,000 won to 500,000 won.

The cut budgets will also be used to foster future industry ecosystems such as space and bio industries to promote exports and secure jobs. The government plans to actively engage in global official development assistance (ODA) for strategic regions including the Indo-Pacific, Africa, and Ukraine. President Yoon emphasized that day, "Exports are the foundation of our economy and the source of job creation," and added, "The government will vigorously pursue the 'export drive strategy' again next year."

Meanwhile, at the Cabinet meeting, President Yoon delivered a letter to ministers urging them to actively reflect the mid- to long-term tasks and policy alternatives derived by the Presidential Committee for National Unity over the past year in each ministry. On the 25th, at the 1st anniversary performance report and the 2nd term inauguration ceremony of the National Unity Committee held at the Yongsan Presidential Office, after hearing policy proposals from special committees under the Unity Committee, President Yoon instructed, "All ministries must incorporate the National Unity Committee’s materials into mid- to long-term reforms and state administration."

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