Rival parties agreed Friday to reduce the supplementary budget to 11.5 trillion won ($10 billion) and pass it through the parliament later in the day.

The government initially submitted an 11.8 trillion won budget plan to the National Assembly for approval on July 6 to boost the troubled economy, with policymakers initially expressing hope it would be passed by July 20.

After failing to see eye to eye on the budget's size for nearly three weeks, the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy agreed Thursday night to pass it through the National Assembly's regular session.

The session is scheduled to kick off at 2 p.m. Friday.

The two sides agreed that the budget will be mainly used to cope with fallout due to MERS, which has had a negative impact on Asia's fourth-largest economy.

The budget will also be used to contain the current drought, which could hurt agricultural output and raise consumer prices, and available manpower and equipment will be mobilized to help farmers. (Yonhap)