<Anchor> This is a
friendly economic time. Reporter Kim Hye-min is here. Today (7th) Monday morning, I would like to talk about disaster relief funds. There is talk of giving out disaster relief funds now. But have you come up with any specifics?
<Reporter>
Disaster relief funds have already been paid several times. This is already the 5th time. Although the specific amount and timing of the 5th disaster aid have not yet been determined, some outlines have emerged.
In addition, the Democratic Party of Korea announced the plan to process the supplementary budget bill at the extraordinary National Assembly next month and pay it from this summer vacation season to Chuseok.
This time, some support is provided selectively, but as in the case of the first disaster aid, a plan to pay the entire nation is being discussed in detail.
In the first period, a certain amount was paid per household. This time, there is talk of paying 300,000 won per person in local currency.
However, this is not yet confirmed. There is still some room for further changes.
<Anchor>
Reporter Kim, So far, the government has provided disaster aid about four times, but it has always been repeated, and the ruling party seems to want a little bit more, and then the Ministry of Finance and the opposition parties took a slightly opposite stance. You seem to be giving a different opinion, is it the same situation again this time?
<Reporter>
It is similar this time, but the ruling party has divided opinions that 'disaster aid should be universally provided to everyone', while the Ministry of Strategy and Finance 'should be provided selectively only to those in need'.
So, the 1st disaster aid was received by all the people, but from the 2nd round, it was paid only to people who had a hard time making a living due to Corona 19, such as small business owners.
In the fifth round, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance is protesting against this, saying that the ruling party should also provide subsidies to all citizens.
First, the ruling party's position is that 19 trillion won more in national tax revenue was collected in the first quarter of this year, so let's use this.
15 trillion won is needed to pay 300,000 won per person in disaster relief funds. If you give 250,000 won to each person, it costs 12.7 trillion won, and if you give 200,000 won to each person, it costs 10 trillion won.
Here, in this supplementary budget, the Democratic Party is proposing a 'triple package' that includes not only disaster support for all people, but also legalization of loss compensation and support for selection of affected industries.
If that happens, we will not need only 15 trillion won in the disaster aid budget. It is also predicted that the additional budget will exceed 30 trillion won.
<Anchor> What
I heard while listening to what reporter Kim just explained was that more taxes were collected this year. About 19 trillion won. Then, "Because we collected more tax, isn't it better to give out a little more of this?" It seems like this at first glance, but the Ministry of Finance seems to have another reason to oppose it, reasonable.right?
<Reporter>
There are two main types. This year, the tax was higher than the government expected. Real estate and stock trading have been done a lot by Koreans recently.
As a result, capital gains tax and securities transaction tax have increased. However, compared to 2019, before the spread of COVID-19, there is only a slight increase.
Last year, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, tax revenue decreased significantly, so this year has an optical illusion that it has increased a lot compared to last year.
Another is that the national debt has already increased so far. After the first supplementary budget this year, the national debt is expected to reach 965.9 trillion won. The national debt-to-GDP ratio has risen to 48.2%.
At the time of the inauguration of the current government, the national debt was a little over 660 trillion won, but as the economy became difficult due to COVID-19, it increased by more than 300 trillion won in four years.
So, rather than repaying the national debt with the tax collected this time, is it appropriate to use it for spending as it is?
<Anchor> The
Ministry of Finance is the department responsible for the country's treasury anyway. So, there seems to be a position in which the country's fiscal soundness and such things have no choice but to be taken into consideration. However, since it is a difficult situation, if we provide disaster aid to all the people, we can also expect to see more positive aspects such as boosting consumption and revitalizing the economy. Do you have any opinions on this?
<Reporter>
Of course, there is also the aspect that stimulates consumption. By the way, people are already standing in line in front of high-priced brand stores in department stores to buy goods. Consumption in retaliation is already exploding.
In particular, the growth rate is expected to exceed 4% this year. At this point in time when the economy has recovered to a large extent, questions are being raised as to whether there is any reason to encourage consumption by providing subsidies to all citizens.
Experts are also concerned about inflation, but they point out that if an additional budget of 30 trillion won is added, it is about 1.5% of GDP, so it can act as a factor in raising prices.
For these reasons, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance is known to have a strong wind of not withdrawing from the principle of selective support. It seems that the ruling party and the Ministry of Finance will clash again over this 5th disaster relief fund.
In particular, domestic and foreign research institutes and academia are strongly suggesting that selective support should be provided, but I think we will have to wait and see if a different conclusion will come out this time from the first disaster support fund.