South Korea's government ministries and agencies have requested a 4.1 percent hike in their budgets for next year as they want to spend more on welfare, education and defense, the finance ministry said Wednesday.
Ministries and state agencies have asked the government to set aside a combined 390.9 trillion won ($349.5 billion) for next year, up 15.5 trillion won from this year's budget of 375.4 trillion won, the ministry said.
The rate of increase is the lowest since the government started applying revised budget request rules centered on total outlays in 2005.
Social welfare-related requests mark a 5.8 percent on-year increase to 122.4 trillion won, as the government should pay more to basic livelihood security recipients.
Demands for education and arts and culture spending are up 6.3 percent and 6.1 percent to 56.2 trillion won and 6.5 trillion won, respectively.
The request for defense spending represents a solid 7.2 percent gain to 40.1 trillion won, with research and development moving up 2.6 percent. There is also a 5 percent rise in budget demand for public safety that can improve the country's ability to cope with natural disasters.
The budget request for social overhead capital, however, has plunged 15.5 percent to 20.9 trillion won with those to be used on the industrial sector being cut by 5.3 percent to 15.5 trillion won. Cuts have also been made in agriculture and environmental protection areas.
Based on the requests submitted, the finance ministry will have consultations with all interested parties in the months to come before determining its final budget proposal. The ministry will then submit this proposal to the National Assembly for approval by Sept. 11.
"The government will carefully check to make sure taxpayers' money is not wasted on unnecessary projects and to concentrate on areas that can result in the most benefits," the finance ministry said. (Yonhap)
