SEOUL: South Korea's new finance minister indicated on Wednesday the government would issue no or a very small amount of bonds to fund an upcoming supplementary budget aimed at defraying losses at small businesses due to COVID-19 restrictions.
"As for the funding, we have made all efforts to secure resources, including readjustment of existing spending plans and carried-over tax revenue surplus," Minister Choo Kyung-ho said at the beginning of a meeting with the ruling party. Choo, appointed on Tuesday on the same day when President Yoon Suk-yeol was inaugurated, made no reference to a bond issuance as a funding source, in contrast to his previous remarks that bond issuance would be minimised.
He said the government would finalise the supplementary budget bill, widely expected to be about 35 trillion won , on Thursday and send it to the parliament on Friday for approval.