South Korea spent more than 22 trillion won ($19.4 billion) in government budget last month as part of its efforts to frontload its budget spending to prop up the economy, the finance ministry said Tuesday.
Fiscal spending by the government and public institutions reached a combined 22.4 trillion won in January, up 2 trillion won from its planned outlay of 20.4 trillion, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.
The South Korean government has called for a stronger fiscal role in leading an economic recovery amid faltering private consumption and rising uncertainties at home and abroad.
The finance ministry earlier forecast that the country will grow 2.6 percent in 2017, down 0.4 percentage point from its earlier growth prediction of 3 percent.
To stop the downside cycle and boost the economy from the beginning of the year, the government said it will pour more than 30 percent of the 400.5 trillion won budget earmarked for 2017 in the first three months of the year. (Yonhap)
