Anchor: The government has drawn up a fourth extra budget totaling seven-point-eight trillion won, or six-point-58 billion dollars to finance COVID-19 relief. The latest supplementary budget is mainly aimed at helping small merchants and self-employed people cushion the economic impact from the pandemic.
Park Jong-hong has the report.
Report: During an emergency economic meeting Thursday, President Moon Jae-in and his economy officials finalized the extra budget plan, under which some two-point-nine million Koreans will receive cash subsidies of up to two million won, or some 17-hundred dollars.
[Sound bite: President Moon Jae-in (Korean/English translation)]
"The government has decided to create a fourth extra budget of seven-point-eight trillion won. This is a tailored disaster subsidy targeting the hardest-hit sectors and classes, providing the largest possible amount for them. First of all, a concentrated amount will be provided to small business owners and self-employed people who are most directly hit by the resurgence of COVID-19."
A total of three-point-eight trillion won will be set aside to assist some three-point-77 million people. That's roughly seven-point-three percent of the nation's entire population.
Moon noted that it was a tough decision to spend the financial assistance selectively.
[Sound bite: President Moon Jae-in (Korean/English translation)]
"This was an unavoidable decision aimed at maximizing the impact with limited resources, as it calls for issuing treasury bonds while the end of the COVID-19 outbreak is uncertain. I ask for public understanding of the current extra budget, which is to help more vulnerable people in need first."
Another one-point-four trillion won will be earmarked to protect one-point-19 million jobs during the pandemic-driven employment crisis. The government's monthly child-rearing support of 200-thousand won for each child under the age of seven has been expanded to include children attending elementary schools.
Individuals 13 years of age and older will also receive a one-time, 20-thousand-won deduction in their mobile service fee.
Moon urged the National Assembly to promptly pass the proposed budget ahead of the five-day Chuseok autumn holiday beginning at the end of September.
The government will submit the extra budget bill to the National Assembly on Friday.
Park Jong-hong, KBS World Radio News.