Seoul to unveil detailed extra budget this week

SEOUL, March 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea plans to unveil detailed spending plans
for an extra budget of as much as 29 trillion won (US$20.64 billion) on Tuesday,
the latest in a series of policies that the government hopes will prevent the
economy from slipping into the first recession in a decade, officials said
Sunday.
The spending plan, expected to range from 27 trillion won to 29 trillion won, may
be adjusted after it is submitted to the Cabinet, according to them.
The proposed spending plan is about 10 percent of the government's 2009 budget of
some 284 trillion won.
Asia's fourth-largest economy shrank 3.4 percent in the fourth quarter of last
year, the first contraction in 11 years, as exports dropped and domestic demand
remained weak.
Earlier, the government forecast that the economy may contract 2 percent this year.
According to the officials, up to 18 trillion won of the proposed extra budget
will be spent on creating employment and supporting exporters.
Earlier, the government said it plans to spend an additional 4.9 trillion won to
create as many as 550,000 jobs.
The finance ministry forecast the economy will shed an average of 200,000 jobs
each month from year-earlier levels, hit by the economic slowdown.
The country's jobless rate jumped to a four-year high of 3.9 percent in February
as companies scaled back recruitment in the face of deepening economic woes. The
February figure is the highest level since March 2005 when the jobless rate stood
at 4.1 percent.
The government also plans to inject around 2 trillion won into state-run credit
guarantee agencies, thus providing more support for exporters and smaller
businesses.
Also, the government will spend 1.6 trillion won supporting low-income earners
and boosting unemployment insurance, the officials said.
sam@yna.co.kr
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