South Korea unveiled the country’s biggest-ever supplementary budget plan on Wednesday to tackle an economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The extra budget plan worth 35.3 trillion won ($28.5 billion) will be submitted to the National Assembly for approval, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
If approved, it would be the country’s largest-ever supplementary budget.
The previous high was 28.4 trillion won ($23 billion) earmarked in 2009 to deal with the global financial crisis.
Of the total, 23.8 trillion won ($19.2 billion) will be financed through the issuance of government bonds, while the remaining 11.5 trillion won ($9.3 billion) will be funded through an adjusted fiscal expenditure.
Minister of Economy and Finance, Hong Nam-ki, who doubles as Deputy Prime Minister for economic affairs, told a press briefing that the COVID-19 outbreak roiled domestic demand, such as consumption and investment, as well as export and tourism coming from the global economic downturn.
Hong noted that the worsening of economic situations and the employment shock was coming into a clearer sight, explaining why the government drew up the third extra budget plan in 2020 alone.
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