The government on Monday submitted a supplementary budget bill to the National Assembly for approval as part of efforts to revitalize the economy struggling with slumping exports and anemic domestic demand.

The 11.8 trillion-won ($10.49 billion) extra budget is part of a 22 trillion-won stimulus package the government says will help revitalize the economy while also providing much needed financial resources to battle the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak.

It comes in addition to the government's 375.4 trillion-won budget for this year.

"The extra budget can revitalize the economy and stabilize the livelihoods of ordinary people who have been affected the most by the fallout from MERS and prevent a sharp drop in consumer spending," Vice Finance Minister Bang Moon-kyu said earlier.

In a Monday meeting with business leaders, Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan expressed hope the parliament will approve the government's request for an extra budget before the start of next month.

"If the National Assembly actively cooperates, the government proposal for an extra budget will pass the parliament before the end of July, and so the government may start executing the supplementary budget in August," said Choi, who is double-hatted as the vice prime minister for economy.

The finance ministry maintains the supplementary budget, along with other measures, will bolster the country's economic growth by 0.3 percentage point to 3.1 percent this year and 0.4 percentage point to 3.5 percent in 2016.

The proposed extra budget includes financial support for hospitals and medical clinics, which have suffered a sharp drop in the number of patients following the outbreak of MERS.

Since the country reported its first case of the infectious disease on May 20, 186 people have been diagnosed, with 33 of them losing their lives.

In addition to support for hospitals, the extra budget includes at least 1.6 trillion won that will be used to help local businesses, especially small and medium-sized firms, which have seen sharp drops in sales due to the MERS scare.

Out of the total 12 trillion won requested, 5.6 trillion won will be used to make up for the tax revenue shortfalls, according to the finance ministry.

The government request, however, follows a strong rejection from the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, whose floor whip has said the government request was "unacceptable."

Lee Jong-kul, floor leader of the main opposition party, said his party will never agree to the proposed additional government spending.

"The extra budget includes an attempt to place the burden of tax revenue shortfalls on the future generation while most of its proposed expenditures are politically motivated (apparently for gains of the government and the ruling party) ahead of next year's parliamentary elections," Lee said Sunday.

He said the funds earmarked for the people and businesses affected by MERS, on the other hand, were "absurdly insufficient."

The finance ministry earlier said the extra budget, if approved as requested, will help create 124,000 new jobs but also push up government debt by 1.8 percentage points to 37.5 percent of the country's gross domestic product. (Yonhap)