The 2023 budget was finalized at 638.7 trillion won and approved by the National Assembly. This is a decrease of about 300 billion won from the original government plan, and next year’s national debt will increase by 65 trillion won from this year to 1134.4 trillion won.
According to the National Assembly and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance on the 24th, the National Assembly confirmed the following year’s budget bill containing these details in the plenary session held on the same day.
The government initially presented a “2023 budget law” to the National Assembly with a total expenditure of 639 trillion won, but next year’s budget was confirmed at 638.7 trillion won, a decrease of 300 billion won.
The budget bill was reduced by 4.6 trillion won during the National Assembly review process, but total spending fell only 300 billion won as the opposition Democratic Party of Korea called for a increase of 3.9 trillion won.
As a result, the change in the size of total spending turned into a net decrease in three years after the 2020 budget. Previously, the National Assembly’s net increase went from a 1.2 trillion won cut in 2020 to 2.2 trillion won in 2021 and 3.2 trillion won in 2022.
With a net decrease in total spending and a decrease in the issuance of currency equalization fund bonds, next year’s national debt will drop by 400 billion won, from 1134.8 trillion won to 1134.4 trillion won.
The managed budget balance and the consolidated budget balance remained at the government plan level with deficits of 58.2 trillion won and 13.1 trillion won respectively. The national debt decreased by 400 billion won, from 1134.8 trillion won to 1134.4 trillion won, or 49.8% of GDP.
Looking at major projects raised by the National Assembly, 1.7 trillion won has been raised to ease the livelihood burden of the working class due to high prices and high interest rates, and to provide personalized support to the vulnerable, such as the elderly, the disabled and small entrepreneurs. First of all, the local love gift certificate budget of 352.5 billion won was recently included.
The supply of Jeonse public rental housing, which can be quickly provided to the vulnerable, has increased from 30,000 to 37,000, and an additional budget of 663 billion won has been allocated, and the scope of loan exchange support has been expanded to reduce the interest burden of the homeless ordinary people The amount of secondary compensation for trillion won loan supply has also increased.
To ease the transportation cost burden of the working class who use public transportation frequently, the number of miles plus support for affordable transit cards was increased from 44 times to 60 times, and the related budget increased from from 15,000 won to 195,000 won.
Food vouchers (KRW 40,000 per month per person) supported for families with less than 50% of the median income. The support target has been expanded from 28,000 families to 48,000 families and a specialized nursing hospital to treat patients with severe and serious rare diseases such as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The budget to support the pilot construction project was recently included.
To prepare for the possibility of deteriorating employment conditions due to the future economic slowdown, it was decided to increase the number of senior public jobs by an additional 61,000 and to keep the total number of senior jobs from 822,000 to 883,000.
Also, considering higher than expected inflation, the unit price of cooling/heating and grain cost support per senior citizen will be increased from 2.15 million won to 2.5 million won per year and 500 additional workers in support of work, ancillary work activities for the seriously disabled will be assigned to support.
28 billion won has been redeployed to provide temporary special guarantees of 140 billion won to lower credit-rated individuals who have difficulty obtaining loans from institutional banks, and the emergency funding limit for individuals has been increased from 500,000 disadvantaged persons voluntarily discovered by local residents at 600,000 won per household
700 billion won has been raised to prepare for the future and strengthen investment in security and safety. 1.7 trillion won (education tax of 1.5 trillion won, general account of 200 billion won) was increased to set up a new “higher and continuing education support special account” to use some of the local financial grants for education to nurture future talent and expand investment in local universities.
In addition, additional 700 billion won for future preparation and investment in safety and security has been strengthened, including 100 billion won for investment in semiconductor industry, 100 billion won for power strengthening related to 3-axis system and 21.3 billion won for investments related to Itaewon disaster safety.
In addition, 1.5 trillion won was raised for projects to boost the local economy, such as support for the recovery costs of typhoon-affected areas (100 billion won), support for rural areas (100 billion won) and the response to other local pending matters .
The feasibility of the project was high, such as the demand for the “East Gwangju-Gwangsan” section of the highway and the “Daesan-Dangjin” section of the railway, etc. the railway lines that passed the preliminary feasibility study were also reflected.
The government plans to propose and vote on the 2023 budget bill at the Cabinet meeting on the 27th, agreeing the National Assembly increase, budget announcement and budget allocation plan.
In addition, it plans to allocate 75% of the total spending budget in the first half of the year and rapidly prepare and promote advance procedures so that execution can begin in time for the start of the fiscal year on January 1 of the next year.
