Office for Government Policy Coordination Releases Early This Month Government Work Evaluation Results
Reducing Job Creation Scores, Increasing Regulatory Innovation Scores
[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Song Seung-seop] The "Government Work Evaluation Results," which serve as the report card for government ministries, will be disclosed. As the first departmental evaluation since the launch of the new administration, "who performed well in regulatory innovation" is expected to be the key to high scores. In particular, attention is focused on whether the economic and financial authorities, which effectively received failing grades under the previous government, can regain their pride.
According to the Office for Government Policy Coordination on the 3rd, the "2022 Government Work Evaluation Results" are scheduled to be released early this month. The government work evaluation results quantify the performance of 45 central administrative agencies into indicators, and scores are classified as A, B, or C. The Office for Government Policy Coordination is currently known to have completed the evaluation and grading of all ministries and is in the final review stage.
The evaluation method has also changed. In 2021, the last year of the Moon Jae-in administration, "Jobs and National Tasks" accounted for the largest portion with 65 points out of 100. This time, the jobs category was removed and replaced with "Major Policies," and the allocation was significantly lowered to 50 points. Instead, efforts in regulatory innovation increased from 10 to 20 points, and policy communication rose from 15 to 20 points. The government innovation score of 10 points and the additional 3 points for proactive administration remain unchanged.
According to the evaluation plan, the point allocation remained unchanged as of March last year but was revised in October after the regime change. The Office for Government Policy Coordination explained that although the government’s policy direction changed, since the evaluation period overlapped with the previous administration’s tenure, only minor adjustments were made to the indicators. An official from the office stated, "It is difficult to revise the evaluation indicators all at once, and they will continue to be refined."
Specifically, while the Moon administration emphasized the efforts and achievements of ministries in regulatory innovation and the public’s perception, this evaluation focuses on the "New Government’s Regulatory Innovation Promotion Direction" and the "Creation of a Free Market Economy." This means that reforms aligned with the government’s philosophy will be scored higher than simple deregulation. Additionally, the indicators were composed by comprehensively considering each ministry’s regulatory innovation conditions, task difficulty, and collaborative efforts.
With the change in the grading method, there is keen interest in whether departmental evaluation scores will also change. The Ministry of Economy and Finance, the economic control tower, was downgraded to a B grade in the 2021 evaluation. While most agencies that worked hard to overcome COVID-19 received high scores, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which led the supplementary budget process four times, received a B in the "Jobs and National Tasks" category, which had the largest weight, resulting in a lower score. There was also analysis that errors in tax revenue forecasts exceeding 60 trillion won influenced the results.
The Financial Services Commission received the lowest grade, C. The main reason was the frequent public inconvenience caused by the household debt management policies implemented by the government at the time. The Financial Services Commission’s total household loan volume policy led to confusion as major banks successively suspended loans. The Office for Government Policy Coordination also issued a practically critical evaluation, stating, "There was a lack of detailed prediction and management of policy effects."
As the core economic and financial ministries both scored low, dissatisfaction grew internally that the evaluation was excessively harsh. An official from a government ministry explained, "Although receiving a low grade does not cause significant disadvantages, morale did drop. We worked hard, but being told we did poorly naturally saps our strength." In response, President Moon also expressed concern immediately after the results were announced, saying, "I worry that the morale of Financial Services Commission employees will drop," and provided encouragement funds.
Both agencies are expecting high scores as many regulatory improvement policies were led by the economic and financial authorities last year. The Ministry of Economy and Finance launched a public-private joint regulatory innovation task force, and the easing of capital gains tax and comprehensive real estate tax was selected as the "Best Policy of the Ministry of Economy and Finance chosen by the public." The Financial Services Commission is currently working on easing regulations related to the separation of banking and commerce and loan regulations.
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