Seoul Proposes 2.8 Trillion Won Extra Budget, Allocating 800 Billion Won for Citizen-Focused Projects

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has drawn up a second supplementary budget worth 2.8061 trillion won to secure mandatory statutory expenses required within the year and to support livelihood recovery and future growth.

The city announced today (August 10) during a press briefing held at City Hall that it has formulated the "2nd Supplementary Budget Plan for 2026," amounting to a 5.2% increase over its existing budget of 53.7674 trillion won, and will submit it to the Seoul Metropolitan Council today.

The city explained, "This is to seamlessly reflect mandatory statutory expenses based on the settlement of accounts," adding, "It also includes investments for supporting youths, small business owners, and vulnerable housing groups, as well as expanding future growth engines."

The city noted that while macroeconomic indicators show signs of recovery, driven by favorable conditions in artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor industries, difficulties felt by citizens—such as youth employment hardships and the burden of housing and living costs—persist. Consequently, financial resources will be allocated to fields such as welfare, housing, youth, and future industries, it added.

Previously, the city formulated its first supplementary budget amounting to 1.457 trillion won on April 14.

At that time, the first supplementary budget focused on lowering transportation and living cost burdens in response to instability in the Middle East and high oil prices, while providing emergency support for vulnerable groups and small business owners.

Mandatory statutory expenses account for about two-thirds of this second supplementary budget.

A total of 1.8698 trillion won will be injected, including 917.9 billion won in support for autonomous districts and the office of education based on the 2025 fiscal year settlement, and 886.3 billion won accumulated for the integrated fiscal stabilization fund and the housing promotion fund.

For citizen-focused projects, 810 billion won has been arranged.

The plan is to distribute the budget by classifying it into three major fields: "Inclusive Seoul" (welfare and housing), "Growing Seoul" (youth and future industries), and "Liveable Seoul" (living safety, child-rearing, and health).

The Inclusive Seoul field includes 222.1 billion won for strengthening basic livelihood security such as livelihood and medical benefits, 44 billion won to expand support for housing benefit recipients, and 2.1 billion won to expand medical support for vulnerable groups.

A total of 13 billion won will be invested in expanding the acquisition of public rental housing near station areas, and 12.4 billion won will be spent on improving facilities at Eunpyeong Hospital and Seonam Hospital.

The Growing Seoul field amounts to 231.9 billion won.

This includes 5.6 billion won to provide advanced generative AI usage passes to 500,000 youths, 403 billion won to promote the use of electric vehicles, and 1.7 billion won to support the execution of the Regional Innovation-led University Support System (RISE) in Seoul.

Funds will also be used to support "nighttime economy revitalization," such as issuing gift certificates usable at "Dalbit Yajang" (1.1 billion won) and operating the Unhyeongung Palace nighttime cultural program (200 million won).

The Liveable Seoul field has been assigned 168.4 billion won.

This allocates 8.2 billion won for building and expanding rainwater pumping stations to prevent flood damage and installing a rainwater storage tank in Siheung Valley, and 177 billion won for replacing aging subway cars on Lines 6 and 7.

Furthermore, 4.1 billion won will be injected into medical expense support for pregnant women aged 35 and older, 3.1 billion won into the First Meeting Voucher support, and 1.1 billion won into family child-rearing allowance support.

In addition, 1 billion won was allocated for supporting sports class voucher usage for people with disabilities, and 600 million won for expanding the Seoul Fitness 9988 direct management centers.

Lee Dong-ryul, acting general director of policy planning and coordination, stated, "We will seamlessly push forward with livelihood, medical, and housing support, youth and new industry investments, marriage, childbirth, child-rearing, and safety infrastructure expansion, and execute them promptly after the city council's deliberation so that citizens can truly experience the changes."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.