Budget Approval Struggles in Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly for Next Year

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The Gyeonggi Provincial Council is experiencing difficulties in processing the 2022 budget proposals of Gyeonggi Province and the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, which amount to 50 trillion won.

The Gyeonggi Council postponed the review of the two institutions' budget proposals, originally scheduled for the 13th, to the 15th of this month. This is because the budget size of the two institutions exceeded 50 trillion won for the first time in history, and each standing committee of the provincial council proposed an additional pure increase budget of over 170 billion won, resulting in many projects to review.

A Gyeonggi Council official stated, "It is already challenging to review the largest-ever budgets of 33.5661 trillion won for Gyeonggi Province and 19.1959 trillion won for the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, and since many project budgets were additionally increased during the preliminary review by each standing committee, a lot of time is being spent on coordination."

Currently, excluding the Education Planning Committee and the Education Administration Committee of the provincial council, the pure increased budget for next year’s projects proposed by the other 10 standing committees amounts to 175 billion won.

The standing committee that increased the budget the most is the Construction and Transportation Committee of the provincial council. The Construction and Transportation Committee increased the budget by a total of 62.2 billion won, including 29 billion won for operating loss support for the Ilsan Bridge operator and 24.6 billion won for special COVID-19 support for the bus industry.

Following that, the committees with large net increased budgets are ▲ Urban Environment Committee (32.7 billion won) ▲ Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee (24.5 billion won) ▲ Economy and Labor Committee (12.3 billion won) ▲ Women, Family and Lifelong Education Committee (10.2 billion won).

Additionally, the budgets cut by the provincial council’s standing committees, such as 20 billion won for the 'Basic Income for Farmers' and 27.6 billion won for 'Local Currency Issuance,' are key policy projects of Gyeonggi Province and are likely to be restored. If this happens, budgets for other projects will have to be reduced. In this process, coordination among standing committees is not easy, and conflicts are likely to arise.

Furthermore, the Women, Family and Lifelong Education Committee must also review the 26 billion won budget for the urgently promoted 'Childcare Disaster Support Fund.' The committee previously passed the 'Gyeonggi Province Childcare Disaster Support Fund Ordinance' on the 8th, which provides for the payment of childcare disaster support funds to children enrolled in daycare centers and infants receiving childcare allowances in the event of a childcare disaster.

Accordingly, the provincial council plans to finalize the budget adjustments on the 15th after coordinating increases and cuts for each project over two days, the 13th and 14th. However, since the review is not easy, there is a high possibility that the budget processing will exceed the legal deadline of the 16th (15 days before the fiscal year).