President Lee Jae-myung: "Now is the time to use national finances"

President Lee Jae-myung, regarding the preparation of the second supplementary budget for 30.5 trillion won, which includes a plan to provide consumption coupons for national livelihood recovery, stated on the 19th, "Now is the time to use national finances."

During the Cabinet meeting he presided over at the Office of the President on this day, President Lee, while reviewing the second supplementary budget, said, "The principles of sound finances or fiscal balance are very important, but, at present, the (economic situation) is so severely sluggish that the government's role is needed," thus expressing his views.

President Lee added, "Of course, it is obviously not right to spend (funds) excessively in a situation where there is no revenue. There must be a balanced budget," but also remarked, "Isn't there an essential role for government finances? If the private sector overheats, it should be restrained, and if private sector functions are excessively stagnant, they need to be supported. Since December 3 last year, psychological contraction has deepened and the pain of ordinary people has become very severe."

Regarding the disagreement over the methods of providing consumption coupons—whether to distribute them equally to all the people ('universal support') or to differentiate the amounts ('differentiated support')—President Lee said, "There is room for debate and opinions can all differ," adding, "This time, I thought we should properly combine the two by making some from an income support perspective and some from an economic stimulus perspective to ensure fairness. I believe the relevant ministries have considered this well."

Hong Min-seong, Hankyung.com reporter mshong@hankyung.com