Ando Geol Criticizes Government's Extra Budget as "Hong Gil-dong, Belated, Token, and Stubborn"

"Reduced Economic Stimulus Due to Missed Timing and Insufficient Scale"

Ando Geol, Member of the National Assembly.

Ando Geol, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (representing Gwangju Dongnam-eul), strongly criticized the government's proposed supplementary budget (hereafter referred to as the "extra budget") at the plenary session of the Strategy and Finance Committee on April 23, stating that it was "insufficient in every aspect, including its purpose, timing, scale, and content."

Ando described this extra budget as a "Hong Gil-dong" budget, lacking clear policy intent. He said, "For an extra budget to be effective, the government must clearly demonstrate its commitment to economic stimulus and send a signal to the market so that consumer and investment sentiment can improve. However, this extra budget is not aimed at economic revitalization but is instead a disaster and calamity budget, and it has failed to serve as a priming pump to revive consumer and investment sentiment."

He went on to characterize the timing of the extra budget as "belated," saying it was a "latecomer" budget that missed the right moment, thereby diminishing its policy impact. Ando stated, "The main budget for 2025 was finalized without any increase due to the emergency martial law, and the government should have swiftly drawn up an extra budget to normalize the fiscal plan. However, the timing was missed, and as a result, the effectiveness has inevitably been greatly reduced."

Regarding the scale of the extra budget, Ando dismissed it as a "token" budget that falls short of the expectations of both the market and the public. He noted, "This year, the outlook for Korea's economic growth rate is being rapidly downgraded, and the GDP gap?the difference between potential growth and actual economic growth?is as high as 0.5 to 1.3 percentage points. The economic growth effect of this extra budget is estimated at only 0.1 percentage points, which is far from sufficient to make up for the GDP gap."

Meanwhile, Ando also criticized the extra budget as being "stubborn" and lacking in practical measures for people's livelihoods. He pointed out, "The local currency project, which has been proven to help increase sales for self-employed people and small business owners, was not included. This extra budget lacks substantial content such as measures to revitalize neighborhood businesses."