The Democratic Party of Korea warned that regarding the government's proposal to increase the 1.4 trillion won contingency fund, it would "reduce it by 50% if the review materials are not submitted."
During a full meeting of the National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee on the 23rd, Park Hong-geun, a member of the Democratic Party, said, "We will observe whether the details of the allocation and execution of the contingency fund will be submitted to facilitate the smooth review of the supplementary budget plan." He pointed out that the government has been refusing to submit materials related to the contingency fund.
Park noted, "(The government's push for an increase in the contingency fund) should be considered applicable to the supplementary budget, given the unprecedented scale of damage from wildfires," while also questioning, "Is it stipulated in the Constitution or the National Finance Act that the government can refuse to submit detailed materials?" He added, "We will scrutinize this issue further on the 24th."
Member Jeong Il-young stated, "If you investigate individual projects of government departments, the amount allocated for accessible contingency funds in this year's main budget is about 12.76 trillion won," adding, "These departments submit materials when the contingency funds are reviewed, unlike the Ministry of Economy and Finance."
He continued, "Has the Ministry of Economy and Finance ever provided contingency fund materials? They are saying they will increase the contingency fund without properly presenting any materials and are criticizing the National Assembly for cutting the fund—how does that make sense?" He emphasized that if materials are not submitted this time, the contingency fund would be reduced by 50%.
Members of the Democratic Party expressed their view again during the meeting that the scale of the supplementary budget should be increased, focusing on local currency.
Member Ahn Do-geol remarked, "The policy that can effectively revive small business owners and local economies is local currency," stating, "We should actively utilize local currency, which has been proven to have a positive effect on economic stimulation, to increase the scale of the supplementary budget."
Member Hwang Myeong-seon criticized the government's proposed "Win-Win Payback Project" as a policy that "deceives the public."
The Win-Win Payback Project is a policy that refunds 20% of the increased monthly card spending compared to the average monthly card spending from last year in the following month as digital Onnuri gift certificates. The budget allocated for the Win-Win Payback Project in the government's 12.2 trillion won supplementary budget proposal is 1.37 trillion won.
Member Hwang pointed out, "Onnuri gift certificates can only be used in traditional markets and affiliated small stores, so their usage scope is limited," and noted that "the current proportion of affiliated stores is only 4.2% of all small business owners, meaning only a very small number can benefit from the policy."
He went on to argue, "We need to change the allocated budget to local currency projects that have a broader usage scope and have already been proven to stimulate consumption in various local governments or add new budgets."
In response, Kim Yoon-sang, Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance, said, "The government believes that refunding Onnuri gift certificates through the Win-Win Payback Project will greatly benefit not only small business owners but also traditional markets and local markets."
The government's supplementary budget proposal has entered the National Assembly on the afternoon of the 21st. By sector, it allocated ▲ 3.2 trillion won for disaster response ▲ 4.4 trillion won for trade and artificial intelligence (AI) support ▲ 4.3 trillion won for livelihood support.
Earlier, the Democratic Party announced its own supplementary budget proposal of 34.7 trillion won centered around the "livelihood recovery consumption coupon" in February. It distributed ▲ 13.1 trillion won for a 250,000 won consumption coupon per person ▲ 2.4 trillion won for Win-Win Consumption Cashback ▲ 2 trillion won for a 10% discount support for local currency. When combining the local currency budget and the "10% discount support," 43% (15.1 trillion won) was allocated to "Lee Jae-myung's local currency."