S. Korean budget to focus on welfare, green growth

The ministry has recently submitted to the National Assembly the basic budget spending plan for 2010-14.

The government aims to increase the ratio of people benefiting from state-funded childcare services from 44.1 percent to 52.6 percent by 2014.

It also plans to provide more than 1 million affordable public apartment units, called “nest housing,” to low-income families.

The plan includes other diverse measures to stabilize the livelihood of ordinary citizens in education, residence and medical services.

For sustainable growth, the government plans to increase the distribution rate of renewable energy from 2.8 percent to 4 percent.

It will also boost environmentally friendly businesses aiming to increase exports of green technologies, products and services from 4 trillion won to 10 trillion won (US$3.4 billion to US$8.5 billion).

The cultural contents industry will get a boost riding on the popularity of overseas of Korean dramas, movies, pop songs and games. Korea's sales in the industry are likely to go up from 4 trillion won to 10.2 trillion won, the ministry said.

The government also intends to offer more aid to developing countries.

It will raise its official assistance for developing nations to around 0.22 percent of its gross national income, and its monetary contributions to international organizations to about 500 billion won by 2014.

“Should the mid-term fiscal plans be carried out well, Korea will be able to become a developed country with strong fundamentals — the manufacturing industry will remain firm and diverse service businesses are also expected to do increasingly well,” a finance ministry official said.

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