홍남기 '지소미아 종료 부정적 영향 최소화되도록 관리"...내년 예산 513조원대<br /><br />South Korea's finance chief held a press conference today on the government's plan to deal with the potential economic impact of quitting GSOMIA.<br />He also said next year's government budget will be 9 percent bigger than this years, partly to fund state efforts to get the economy back in shape.<br />Our Hong Yoo reports.<br />To reduce the negative impact that the termination of the military-intelligence sharing pact with Japan could have on the economy, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki pledged to actively respond by closely monitoring the current situation.<br />Hong will hold ministerial-level talks regarding Japan twice a week to come up with countermeasures to Japan's export curbs and to timely respond to potential market volatility.<br />He asked the South Korean people and businesses to unite with confidence instead of feeling overburdened.<br />The finance minister also used the press conference to talk about next year's government budget bill.<br />He said the government will increase the 2020 budget bill by around nine percent on-year to some 422-billion U.S. dollars.<br />Hong said a lot of things were considered when drawing up the bill such as the active role of finance for an economic response, as well as long-term financial conditions and policy capabilities.<br />With such a budget for 2020, the national debt level compared to GDP will increase to 39 percent from 37-point-2 percent this year.<br />The finance ministry will submit the bill proposal to the National Assembly on September 3rd after it goes through a government-ruling party consultation and is discussed by the cabinet next week.<br />Hong Yoo, Arirang News.<br />
