Assembly passes $13 billion extra budget

Law makers passing this year's first supplementary budget at the National Assembly on March 25. [YONHAP]

The National Assembly passed a 14.9 trillion won ($13 billion) supplementary budget that focuses on help to small businesses affected by Covid-19 social distancing regulations implemented since late November.

The size of the supplementary budget was slightly adjusted from the 15 trillion won proposed by the government.

The budget for supporting small businesses was raised from the 6.9 trillion won proposed by the government to 7.3 trillion won.

Emergency grants to travel agencies were raised from 2 million won each to 3 million won. Grants for theatrical performance companies were raised from 2 million won to 2.5 million won.

Reductions were made to some proposals by the government, including for government job programs that were deemed less urgent, such as sorting products for recycling.

It was the first supplementary budget for this year and the fifth since the Covid-19 pandemic started.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]