Next year's budget of 728 trillion won, the largest ever, passed the National Assembly's plenary session on the 2nd. It is the first time in five years since 2020 that the National Assembly met the statutory deadline for handling the budget.
The National Assembly held a plenary session that day and put to a vote next year's budget totaling 728 trillion won. The bill passed with 248 in favor, eight against, and six abstentions out of 262 lawmakers present. The budget that passed the National Assembly cuts about 3.2 trillion won from the government proposal, and within that reduction range, items were increased, so the total expenditure barely grew compared with the government proposal. The initial cut size was known to be 4.3 trillion won, but 1.1 trillion won was added for follow-up measures related to the tariff negotiations, setting the effective reduction at 3.2 trillion won.
Next year's budget is 54.7 trillion won (8.1%) larger than this year's main budget. The growth rate is the seventh highest on record, and the increase amount is the largest ever. Next year will be the first time the budget has exceeded 700 trillion won.
Next year's total revenue is set at 674.2 trillion won, nearly 24 trillion won more than this year's 651.6 trillion won. The consolidated fiscal balance, which subtracts total expenditure from total revenue, is expected to record a 53.8 trillion won deficit next year.
National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik said, "It has been five years since the budget was handled by the statutory deadline," adding, "It is a very good thing at a time when we must pool our capabilities for economic recovery. I hope the responsible and mature attitude shown by both the ruling and opposition parties today will lead to steps that ease the deadlocked political situation."
Both the ruling and opposition parties said they had things to say about next year's budget. Lee So-young, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker who serves as the ruling party secretary on the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, said, "From the Democratic Party's standpoint, we protected everything that needed to be protected, and it is very fortunate that the first budget of the Lee Jae-myung administration was handled by bipartisan agreement," adding, "We met the statutory deadline for the budget and set and upheld the principle of increasing only within the range of cuts to total expenditure."
The Democratic Party of Korea gave high marks to the inclusion in next year's budget of funds for a basic income pilot project for farming and fishing villages, financial support for vulnerable groups, improvements to the treatment of childcare faculty and staff, and region-by-region AX conversion, among others. Floor leader Kim Byung-kee of the Democratic Party said, "We maintained the aggregates of funding for key state agenda without cuts," and added, "It was thanks to lawmakers working around the clock to secure funds and hold the negotiating table."
The People Power Party also emphasized that it blocked additional increases compared with the government proposal. Park Hyung-soo, a People Power Party lawmaker who serves as the opposition party secretary on the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, said, "Because the budget was financed by issuing 109 trillion won in deficit liability, we believed there should be no net increase, and enforcing that was the biggest achievement," adding, "We cleaned up and cut items that had been loosely assembled under the name of AI."
The People Power Party cited as key results in the budget talks for next year: a 20,000 won monthly increase in allowances for childcare and daycare teachers; a 5% increase in daycare fees; a 3% increase in customized national scholarships for college students; a 10,000 won monthly increase in the veterans' honor allowance; and expanded support for the steel industry and other sectors to respond to threats to the nation's existence.
The ruling and opposition parties clashed over 8.2 billion won in special operation expenses for the presidential office, which had been deleted in this year's budget but revived this time, but they reached a compromise to cut 100 million won from the presidential office's operating expenses instead of cutting the special operation expenses.