Rival parties reach agreement on national budget for 2024

Dec 21, 2023, 08:48 am

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The plenary chamber of the National Assembly/ Photographed by Song Eui-joo

By AsiaToday reporter Park Ji-eun

The rival parties on Wednesday finalized the national budget for next year with a reduction of 4.2 trillion won (US$ 3.2 billion) from the government’s original proposal of 656.9 trillion won, and agreed to pass it through the National Assembly on Thursday. They also decided not to increase the national debt and the size of its bond issuance from the government’s proposal.

The floor leaders of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) and the parliament’s special committee for budget settlement announced they agreed to pass the national budget bill and revenue budget bill.

Although the rival parties missed the legal deadline for the budget bill by 19 days amid a fierce confrontation between them, they avoided the worst-case scenario of dealing with it next year.

The two sides agreed to increase a net 600 billion won for the research and development sector in order to improve the working conditions of researchers, invest in next-generation technologies, and support the latest and high-performance research equipment. The budget related to the Saemangeum development project will be increased by 300 billion won to support smooth operation of companies in the reclaimed wetland and attract private investment. Another 300 billion won was earmarked for the government’s local voucher program, issued to boost spending at local businesses.

When the amount of increase and decrease by project is added during the deliberation process of the National Assembly, the total expenditure of next year’s budget is expected to be similar to the original proposal of the government. Earlier, the government called for a 2.8 percent on-year increase in state spending to 656.9 trillion won, and submitted to the parliament in September.

The PPP maintained its stance of not increasing the budget during the negotiations. “We tried to minimize pork barrel budget ahead of the general elections, and put a lot of the budget to improve people’s livelihood and protect the socially disadvantaged,” said Yun Jae-ok, acting leader and floor leader of the ruling party.

The DP put significance in that it has led to an increase in the Saemangeum-related budget. For the budget of for local voucher program, the key policy of DP Chairman Lee Jae-myung, the main opposition party has secured 300 billion won which is less than half of the original budget of 705 billion won.

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