Ruling and opposition parties agree to start budget deliberation next week

SEOUL, Dec. 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's ruling and opposition party lawmakers said Thursday that they have agreed to start deliberation on the government-proposed 2010 budget from next week.

The agreement was reached in a meeting held later in the day between senior
members of the parliamentary budget committee from the ruling Grand National
Party and the major opposition Democratic Party. Under the deal, they will begin
deliberation from Monday for the 291.8 trillion won budget proposed by the
government.
The National Assembly was required to pass the budget proposal, which calls for a
2.5 percent increase from this year's spending to bolster economic growth and
stabilize the livelihood of ordinary people, by the legal deadline of Wednesday
this week.
But lawmakers have failed to even set the deliberation schedule as they are
locked in a fight over controversial spending plans such as the restoration of
the nation's four major rivers and the transfer of some government agencies to an
administrative town under construction.
The government is calling on lawmakers to endorse its budget plan as soon as
possible, saying it needs to front-load spending next year in a bid to continue
efforts to bolster the economy, which has been hard-hit by the global downturn
that started last year.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
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