[2024 City Policy Speech] Yoon "Government Prioritizes Price and Livelihood Stability... 23 Trillion Won Spending Restructuring Next Year"

2024 Budget Proposal and Fund Operation Plan Mayoral Speech
Yoon "Sound Fiscal Policy Praised by IMF"

President Yoon Suk-yeol stated on the 31st, "The government will prioritize price stability and the stabilization of people’s livelihoods above all else and respond with full force." This reflects the intention to actively implement price management and financial policies for the underprivileged while maintaining the government’s sound fiscal stance.

During the 2024 budget and fund management plan policy speech held at the National Assembly that morning, President Yoon said, "Prices felt by the public remain high, and the burden of living expenses is increasing due to prolonged high interest rates."

As measures to stabilize people’s livelihoods, President Yoon emphasized, "We will operate a government-wide price stabilization system focusing on managing grocery prices, while alleviating the essential living costs burden such as housing, transportation, and communication for vulnerable groups. We will also strengthen efforts to ease the burden caused by prolonged high interest rates through expanded financial supply for the underprivileged."

He also reaffirmed the Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s sound fiscal policy. President Yoon introduced, "The total expenditure for 2024 is set to increase by 2.8%, the lowest level since 2005, to maintain a sound fiscal stance. During the budget formulation process for next year, the government restructured expenditures amounting to a total of 23 trillion won. We meticulously identified and adjusted expenditures that did not align with the purpose and intent of budget items, as well as unnecessary or improper spending."

Given the difficult economic situation caused by global economic recession due to high interest rates and high inflation, security risks such as the Ukraine war and armed conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, and the necessity of maintaining national credit and securing the future generation, sound fiscal management is essential. Regarding this, President Yoon explained, "The International Monetary Fund (IMF) praised Korea’s sound fiscal policy as the 'right direction.'"

President Yoon Suk-yeol is raising his hand to greet as he exits after delivering the 2024 budget-related policy speech at the National Assembly plenary session on the 31st. Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, is watching this. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the other hand, the government plans to actively invest in national systems and protection of socially vulnerable groups. President Yoon stated, "We will allocate more resources to strengthening core national functions such as defense, rule of law, education, and health, protecting the vulnerable, and securing future growth engines." He emphasized plans to raise the livelihood benefit payment for a four-person household to 1,844,000 won, provide one-on-one dedicated services for people with developmental disabilities, increase the allowance for youth preparing for independence by 25%, fully support university tuition for youth from basic and near-poverty households, and raise soldiers’ monthly pay by 350,000 won.

Regarding the economic sector, he said, "We will invest 4.4 trillion won in artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, cybersecurity, and building a digital platform government, and increase public stockpiling of critical minerals to prepare for supply chain instability." However, concerning the reduction of research and development (R&D) budgets, he asked for understanding, stating, "Although the budget quantitatively increased significantly from around 20 trillion won to 30 trillion won over three years since 2019, there have been many calls for urgent qualitative improvements and expenditure restructuring to create future growth engines."