Next Year`s Budget Set at 119 Trillion Won

The government has set next year’s general account budget at 118-119 trillion won, a 6-7 % increase from this year’s budget.

At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the government decided on plans for year 2004 budget, which has raised year 2004 budget by 6-7% from the 111.5 trillion won earmarked for this year. The plans were prepared on the premise that the Korean economy will grow 5% next year and tax revenues will increase by 6-7 trillion won.

For next year’s budget distribution, the government decided to put emphasis on developing the nation into an East Asian hub; more women’s participation in society and preparing for an aging society; expansion of the investment in R & D in colleges outside Seoul; developing a new engine of growth; and building more apartment houses for the low income bracket.

And the Ministry of Planning and Budget asked government ministries and agencies to submit their budget plans for year 2005 and 2006 along with their 2004 applications for budget in order to set up a three-year fiscal plan. At the cabinet meeting, participants also decided on plans for next year’s national fund management. In particular, according to the fund management plans, if a fund has superfluous money, the money can be used in other funds of similar kinds or in other projects.

Starting next year, profits made from cycling and motorboat races, which are major financial sources of the national sports promotion fund, can be funneled into the culture and arts promotion fund, the tourism promotion fund raised from overseas travels’ contributions into the international exchange fund, and the science promotion fund into the Ministry of Science and Technology’s budget.

The Ministry of Planning and Budget plans to send copies of the fund management plans to government ministries and agencies on March 31 and ask them to submit their applications for budget and their fund management plans.

Kwang-Hyun Kim kkh@donga.com