Park Hong-keun: "We will boldly restructure nonessential budgets and allocate secured resources where they are needed"

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[The Financial News] Park Hong-keun, Minister of Planning and Budget, said on the 21st, "We will boldly restructure nonessential budgets and ensure that secured resources are directed to the right places, such as national policy tasks and priority initiatives, to strengthen strategic fiscal management."
At a press briefing held that day at the Central Building of Government Complex Sejong, Park said he plans to continue working with ministries so that the targets set in next year's budget guidelines — a 15% cut in discretionary spending and a 10% cut in mandatory spending — do not end up as empty promises.
Park said he is continuing to look for ways to operate a truly top-down budgeting system. He explained that the government aims not only to improve behavioral aspects, such as stronger communication with related agencies, but also to reform system-level issues, including work boundaries and procedures between ministries and fiscal authorities.
In particular, Park emphasized that fiscal authorities will focus on essential items and otherwise respect ministry autonomy as much as possible. He added that the government will refine and strengthen performance evaluations of fiscal projects to find a balance between ministry autonomy and accountability.
Park said the government will work to improve fiscal transparency and efficiency by expanding communication and participation from a wide range of stakeholders, including the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, local governments, the public and relevant ministries, throughout the entire budget formulation, review and evaluation process. He also said the government plans to begin a public town hall meeting on the national budget and directly hear views from citizens, experts and ministries on medium- to long-term national strategy and spending restructuring.
He said the government also aims to deliver changes that people can feel in their daily lives. Park said it will systematically organize and evaluate fiscal support by life stage and sector, adding that the ultimate goal is to build a stronger and more comprehensive social safety net and ensure that a fair ladder of opportunity works properly.
Park added that the ministry is planning institutional reforms so that fiscal management can become more field-oriented and user-centered. In particular, he said it will push for changes to the fiscal system so that budget execution management shifts from a focus on fund allocation to actual spending for end users.
syj@fnnews.com Seo Young-joon Reporter