Minister-nominee Park Hong-geun of the Ministry of Planning and Budget said, "Finance is not a magic money tree," adding, "I will lay the foundation for 'sustainable, active public finance.'"
Park said in his opening remarks at a confirmation hearing of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee on the 23rd, "Now is the time when an active fiscal role is required to ease the burden on people's livelihoods, alleviate polarization, solidify the economic recovery, and lift the potential growth rate," while making these points.
Regarding the supplementary budget, he said, "There is growing concern that the hard-won momentum of economic recovery is being dampened by an external shock of recent Middle East uncertainty," adding, "In particular, rising fuel costs go beyond simple inflation figures and become a matter of survival for ordinary people and small business owners." He went on to say, "We will swiftly draw up a supplementary budget to minimize the impact on livelihoods, the economy and industry, and submit it to the National Assembly."
Park said, "The Ministry of Planning and Budget will become the 'control tower' of a future strategy that breaks through the five major structural risks head-on and achieves grand national unity," and presented three goals.
First, he said, "We will complete a grand design to establish a centennial national plan," adding, "We will put down firm roots in a long-term strategy with a 20- to 30-year horizon that will support the future of the Republic of Korea, and organically link it to five-year state tasks, the medium-term fiscal plan, and the annual budget."
He also said, "We will overhaul the paradigm of fiscal management," adding, "We will break the practice of simple budget allocation and establish a substantive 'top-down budgeting system' for strategic resource allocation based on national priorities." He continued, "We will carry out exhaustive expenditure restructuring without exempting either mandatory or discretionary spending," adding, "We will cut unnecessary and non-urgent expenditure."
Park said, "Under the grand principle of 'sovereignty resides in the people,' we will make the tangible improvement of people's lives the top value of policy," adding, "We will make the social safety mat even tighter and thicker so that the fruits of growth do not stay with certain classes and regions but are shared evenly by everyone in our society, including young people, small business owners, people with disabilities, and those outside the greater Seoul area."
He said, "Rather than the data on a desk, I will be a Minister who reacts more sensitively to the rough knuckles of vendors at the pre-dawn market and the anxious eyes of young people, and finds answers in the field."