Incheon City Allocates 1.7 Trillion Won Supplementary Budget... Focus on Livelihood Economy Recovery and Balanced Development of Original Downtown Areas

A 15 Trillion Won Budget, 13% Increase from Original Plan... Largest Ever
Additional Inclusion of Incheon e-eum Cashback and Semi-Public Bus System Budget

Incheon City Hall

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Incheon City has prepared a supplementary budget that increased by approximately 1.7 trillion KRW compared to the original budget to focus on revitalizing the livelihood economy and balanced development of the old downtown area.

The city announced that it will urgently prepare the first supplementary budget for this year, the largest ever at 14.8677 trillion KRW, and plans to submit it to the City Council on the 17th.

This amount represents an increase of 1.7235 trillion KRW (13.1%) from the original budget of 13.1442 trillion KRW, funded by excess local tax revenue of 516.1 billion KRW, additional ordinary local allocation tax of 267 billion KRW, and national subsidies of 251.3 billion KRW.

Key items include ▲support for livelihood economy recovery at 491.7 billion KRW ▲improvement of citizen safety and quality of life at 389.9 billion KRW ▲enhancement of regional industry vitality and urban competitiveness at 277.6 billion KRW ▲legal and mandatory expenses at 564.3 billion KRW.

In detailed items, an additional 85.2 billion KRW was allocated for the local currency Incheon e-eum cashback budget, increasing the budget size from the original 219.2 billion KRW to 304.4 billion KRW.

Accordingly, the cashback rate may be somewhat increased from the current "5% rate up to 300,000 KRW payment limit." The city plans to announce improvement measures for Incheon e-eum around the end of this month.

Additionally, to help small business owners and SMEs struggling due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic recover their competitiveness, an additional 38.5 billion KRW was allocated for financial support such as management stabilization funds and special guarantees, and 180.9 billion KRW was reflected for temporary livelihood support for low-income groups and COVID-19 living support expenses.

Furthermore, to suppress public transportation fare increases, 90.7 billion KRW was added for the semi-public bus system, and 43.8 billion KRW for operating losses of Incheon Subway Lines 1 and 2.

The city allocated 28.6 billion KRW for establishing convenient transportation environments and building a comprehensive road network, including the construction of a new road between Cheongna District and Bukhang, and additionally increased the transportation safety budget by 40.7 billion KRW for expanding unmanned enforcement equipment in school zones and installing CCTV inside urban railway vehicles.

For balanced urban development, 31.8 billion KRW was allocated for living environment improvement projects such as the maintenance of Manseok Overpass and the Jemulpo Station urban regeneration project, and 13.6 billion KRW was allocated to improve residential conditions in island villages through projects like the Fishermen’s New Deal 300.

This supplementary budget proposal will be finalized after review and approval at the regular session of the City Council held this month.

Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok stated, "Through the operation of the largest-ever budget of about 15 trillion KRW, we will strive to revitalize the livelihood economy and focus on resolving current issues such as responding to COVID-19."