The Ministry of Economy and Finance will make preparations to swiftly spend next year's budget to prop up a slowing economy and support the welfare sector, a senior official said Thursday.
Vice Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol told a meeting on fiscal spending that the government plans to begin implementing next year's budget from Jan. 1 next year, when the nation's fiscal year starts.
Earlier this week, the National Assembly passed next year's state budget of 512.3 trillion won ($431.5 billion), slightly down from the government's proposal of 513.5 trillion won.
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(Yonhap) |
The 2020 budget represents a 9.1 percent hike from this year's, as the government has vowed to boost the economy as it is beset by a deepening US-China trade row and more recently by its own with Japan.
Koo also called for a full implementation of this year's budget.
The government will mobilize all resources to fully spend this year's budget of 469.6 trillion won as planned, Koo said.
South Korea's export-reliant economy is grappling with the lengthy trade war between the US and China and a cyclical downturn in the global chip industry.
The nation's economy grew a less-than-expected 0.4 percent in the third quarter of this year.
The third-quarter estimate marked a slowdown from a revised 1 percent on-quarter expansion in the April-June period.
South Korea's exports sank 14.3 percent in November from a year earlier, extending their slump to a 12th consecutive month. (Yonhap)
