Govt. to finalize extra budget plan this week

SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Yonhap) -- The government will convene an extra Cabinet meeting this week to finalize a supplementary budget plan aimed at helping small businesses hit by the pandemic, the prime minister's secretariat said Tuesday.Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum will preside over the meeting Friday, a week after he announced the government's plan to draw up an extra budget to assist small businesses and self-employed people.The government is reported to be considering a request for 14 trillion won (US$11.8 billion) to be submitted to the National Assembly next Monday.The ruling Democratic Party hopes to convene a provisional session of the National Assembly in February to pass the extra budget plan no later than Feb. 11.The party has called for increasing the budget beyond the government's proposal to expand both the scope and amount of relief payments.The main opposition People Power Party has also suggested payments of 3 million won are not enough but denounced the extra budget plan as an act of vote buying.Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum presides over a Cabinet meeting at the government complex in Seoul on Tuesday. (Yonhap)