Government Increases Fiscal Execution Target by 43 Trillion to 346 Trillion in First Half of Year... 92 Trillion Executed as of February

The government has decided to increase the execution target for central, local, and local education finances to a total of 346 trillion won for the first half of this year, which is 43 trillion won more than the initial plan. Including the targets for public institutions and private investment plans, the execution management target for the first half rises to 383 trillion won. This is the largest scale ever for the first half of the year.

On the 6th, the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced this at the Emergency Economic Ministers' Meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho, reporting on the agenda of "First Quarter Fiscal Rapid Execution Status Check and Promotion Plan." The Ministry explained, "Since the execution target has been raised to respond to the risk of economic downturn, it is necessary to make every effort to accelerate execution jointly with related ministries."

Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Choo Kyung-ho is attending the 'Emergency Economic Ministers' Meeting and Export Investment Measures Meeting' held at the Government Seoul Office Building on the 2nd, delivering opening remarks. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

Central, local, and local education finances, which are pushing for the execution of 346 trillion won in the first half, executed 92.4 trillion won as of the end of February. This is 10.2 trillion won more than the same month last year. The progress rate based on the first half execution plan is 26.7%, and the execution rate based on the annual execution plan is 16.7%. Central finance executed 49.5 trillion won (progress rate 31.4%), local finance 41.1 trillion won (24.0%), and local education finance 1.8 trillion won (10.6%).

The investment scale of major public institutions was 7.4 trillion won, recording a progress rate of 21.3% compared to the first half plan (34.8 trillion won). Private investment projects executed 430 billion won, with a progress rate of 19.5% compared to the first half plan (2.21 trillion won). The Ministry of Economy and Finance stated, "For public institution investments, active execution management is needed, especially focusing on large-scale social overhead capital (SOC) projects concentrated in the execution plan this month."

As an essential livelihood expense support project for vulnerable groups, 10.1 trillion won was executed by the end of last month. The execution rate compared to the planned scale for this year (55.9 trillion won) is 18.1%. By beneficiary group, vulnerable groups executed 4.8 trillion won (execution rate 23.3%), low-income and youth 4.2 trillion won (13.4%), and small business owners 1.2 trillion won (27.7%). This project includes medical benefits, livelihood benefits, basic pensions, disability pensions, and small business loans.

The government diagnosed that although the essential livelihood expense support project progressed rapidly, some projects such as youth jeonse deposit return guarantee fee support, which have not yet finalized their project plans, and projects with sluggish execution like old diesel vehicle scrappage support, require prompt implementation. They plan to accelerate project promotion to expand execution scale, focusing on ongoing and carryover projects, and to discover new execution methods in parallel with existing rapid execution measures such as the special cases of the Enforcement Decree of the National Contract Act scheduled until the end of June.

Furthermore, the government will promote expanding financial support incentives and awards for local governments and central ministries with excellent execution management. This includes reflecting each ministry's first half rapid execution performance in the next year's basic expense budget and linking special grants and subsidies support to local governments' execution performance. The government plans to check execution performance weekly through execution inspection teams and fiscal management inspection meetings and conduct on-site inspections as well.