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Korea's Finance Mnistry has just announced that it will allocate roughly 17 trillion
won, or 15 billion U.S. dollars for its supplementary budget.
If approved, this would be the largest supplementary budget since during the financial crisis in
2009.
Our economics correspondent Kim Han-ul has the details. Korea's Finance Ministry announced
the size and the details of the supplementary budget on Tuesday.
The government is planning to inject 17 trillion won, or roughly 15 billion U.S. dollars, into
the economy, although the total could go as high as 17 billion dollars.
The Finance Minister felt the supplementary budget was necessary to boost the sluggish
economy, as the government recently placed the country's growth outlook for this year
at 2-point-3 percent.
The details include spending 2-point-6 billion dollars on job creation and stabilizing the
economy,... such as improving the fresh produce distribution system to curb inflation, and
supporting a new housing policy that was announced earlier this month.
One-point-two billion dollars will go towards supporting small- and medium-sized businesses,
and another three trillion on regional economic development, to make sure that areas vulnerable
to natural disasters get enough support and funding.
The government, and the ruling and opposition parties could not agree on where the money
was going to come from.
But the finance ministry says it will come from additional spending and existing tax
revenues.
The finance minister hopes the supplementary budget will pass the National Assembly soon
so it can take effect as soon as possible.
"The proposal will be put up for a vote during Tuesday's Cabinet meeting. The finance ministry
then plans to submit it to the National Assembly for approval on Thursday.
Kim Han-ul, Arirang News."