Finance ministry to make preparations for early spending of 2020 budget

SEJONG, Dec. 12 (Yonhap) -- 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 (US$431.5 billion), slightly down from the government's proposal of 513.5 trillion won.

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 U.S.-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 U.S. 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.

kdh@yna.co.kr
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