Second extra budget may face revisions amid 4th wave of pandemic

People shop at a nearly empty shopping mall in Seoul, Sunday, Yonhap

By Lee Kyung-min

Plans for a second extra budget of 33 trillion won ($28.7 billion) may undergo dramatic revisions due to the heightened need for containment amid new COVID-19 caseloads exceeding 1,000 a day for about a week.

A strongest-ever two-week social distancing rule effective Monday prohibits the gathering of more than two people after 6 p.m. in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, practically banning all private gatherings after work.

Some say measures to boost consumption should be drawn down, since compensating for losses for small businesses and low-income earners take priority as strict distancing rules are likely to continue for at least two weeks.

The National Assembly will begin reviewing the extra budget bill submitted by the government this week.

The budget includes 10.4 trillion won to be given to the bottom 80 percent of income earners in the form of 250,000 won worth of cash-equivalent vouchers or loyalty points.

About 1.1 trillion won will be given to credit card users to spending an amount greater than a level to be set by the government. Some 48.4 billion won will be given out as coupons to be accepted at movie theaters and sporting events.

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea claims that the government's proposal to support the bottom 80 percent of income earners should be revised and assistance should be given to the entire nation.

But former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, a ruling party candidate for the presidential election next year, called for swift changes in the planned support for the bottom 80 percent.

“The National Assembly should move quickly to spend the 10.4 trillion won for those most in need in a win-win strategy to weather the surge in new caseloads,” he said on social media.

“The financial assistance should be provided first and foremost to 6 million small business owners and self-employed as well as 4.6 million people vulnerable to the economic crisis, a group of people who are forced to suffer direct damage due to the highest level of distancing measures brought on by the fourth wave of the virus spread.”