Ministry of Planning and Budget Holds 3rd Expanded Executive Meeting on March 3
The Ministry of Planning and Budget has set public livelihood stability as its top priority and begun responding, amid both domestic and international variables such as the nomination of a new ministerial candidate and instability in the Middle East.
On the morning of March 3, the Ministry held its 3rd Expanded Executive Meeting, presided over by Acting Minister and Vice Minister Lim Gigeun, to review the progress of key policies since its establishment.
Acting Minister Lim stated, "It is time to demonstrate the true strength of the organization through tangible results," and added, "We will accelerate the pace at every stage of policy implementation as much as possible." He also called on staff members to "approach your work with a strong sense of ownership, regarding your tasks as truly your own, and maintain a firm and unwavering attitude in carrying out your responsibilities."
Given that Democratic Party lawmaker Park Honggeun was nominated as the new ministerial candidate for the Ministry of Planning and Budget about a month after the withdrawal of former lawmaker Lee Hyehoon, Acting Minister Lim instructed the personnel hearing support team to thoroughly prepare for the hearing.
Considerable attention was also paid to assessing the public economy in light of external uncertainties. To minimize the impact of instability in the Middle East, caused by airstrikes by the United States and Israel on Iran, on domestic livelihoods, Acting Minister Lim directed that the budget execution status for related areas-including export companies' shipping and logistics, fuel cost support, foreign currency budgets, and protection of overseas nationals-be strictly managed.
Meanwhile, at the meeting, Acting Minister Lim also instructed that major policies-such as revitalizing private investment, systematizing fund management, and reforming the integrated performance evaluation-should continuously engage with the field to bring about changes that the public can genuinely feel.
He further ordered that ongoing policy tasks be meticulously designed, taking into account not only their actual effectiveness and concrete procedures but also measures to prevent side effects.
Regarding the mid- to long-term development strategy, he emphasized that meaningful outcomes should be produced by proceeding with the end result in mind from the very beginning, starting with gathering public opinion and operating public-private consultative bodies.
He also directed that the budget formulation guidelines, scheduled to be announced at the end of this month, should clearly incorporate not only national policy tasks but also agendas for addressing structural crises such as low birth rates, carbon neutrality, the AI transformation, polarization, and regional extinction, as well as fiscal innovation measures like expenditure restructuring, to serve as practical guidelines.
In particular, regarding measures to eradicate fraudulent subsidy claims, Acting Minister Lim stressed the importance of instilling the awareness that "fraudulent claims will inevitably be detected, and when discovered, those responsible will face penalties several times greater than their illicit gains."
Additionally, he called for accelerating internal work innovation through AI-based solutions to maximize administrative efficiency.
Acting Minister Lim commented, "Even a small gap in the early days of our launch could undermine the organization's credibility," and urged all staff to remain vigilant and steadfast in carrying out their duties.
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