Supplementary budget tops presidential meeting agenda

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol visits the press breifing at the transition team headquarters in Jongno, Seoul, Monday. [YONHAP]

A supplementary budget was at the top of the agenda for the meeting between the current president and the next president scheduled for Monday evening.

Kim Eun-hye, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's spokesperson, said Yoon would raise the immediate need to help small businesses that continue to suffer from the social-distancing regulations still in force.

"President-elect Yoon believes that there's limitless responsibility when it comes to livelihoods," Kim said. "He will request active cooperation and support on Covid-19 loss compensation as promised."

While the Yoon's People Power Party (PPP) accepted the ruling Democratic Party's 14-trillion won supplementary budget, which passed the National Assembly in January ahead of the March presidential election, Yoon and the PPP have promised a 50-trillion won extra budget heavily focused on small business.

The PPP and Yoon have argued that the 3-million-won grant in the 14-trillion-won budget is not enough to compensate business owners who have suffered greatly as a result of government policy.

They have argued that the compensation should be raised to at least 10 million won per business.

The supplementary budget has become a hot issue, especially as the two biggest parties are still competing for votes in local-government elections in June.

While neither the Blue House nor the DP has outspokenly opposed another supplementary budget, there have been questions raised as to the funding of the extra budget.

The PPP and the transition team have been arguing for an upping of the supplementary budget.

They are advocating for significant adjustments, such as downsizing several projects that have been pushed by the Moon government, including the Korean New Deal and several government job programs.

One of the goals is to prevent the national debt, which has grown significantly in recent years, from growing too rapidly.

The DP, which has pushed for seven supplementary budgets since 2020, argues that a simple adjustment of the existing budget is not enough.

Park Hong-keun, the new DP floor leader, on Monday said he agrees with the swift passage of a supplementary budget. He added that complete compensation for losses that businesses have suffered is needed.

"It is impossible to come up with 50 trillion won supported by Yoon simply with the restructuring of spending," said DP floor leader Park. "Additional issuance of government bonds is inevitable."

While the Finance Ministry has remained silent on the issue, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki is reported to be skeptical about another supplementary budget. Hong opposed the 14-trillion-won supplementary budget pushed by the DP earlier this year.

Of the total 11.3 trillion won was financed with government bonds.

Yoon's transition team is pressuring the Blue House and the DP. The transition team said it has requested that the Finance Ministry start working on a budget proposal. It added that if the current government does not cooperate, the transition team will prepare a proposal that could be submitted to the National Assembly the moment that the new government takes office.

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