Gyeonggi Provincial Council PPP: "Fund Borrowing During Lee Jae-myung's Tenure Caused Fiscal Crisis"

The People Power Party (PPP) at the Gyeonggi Provincial Council criticized both the 7th and 8th popular local government terms of the Democratic Party of Korea on the 13th, claiming that Gyeonggi Province's current fiscal crisis originated from excessive fund borrowing during President Lee Jae-myung's tenure as governor.

In a press release issued that day, the provincial council's PPP argued, "Governor Choo Mi-ae is only taking issue with the local bond issuance of former Governor Kim Dong-yeon, but the beginning of the '7 trillion won debt era' stems from fund borrowing under the 7th popular administration of then-Governor Lee Jae-myung."

According to the provincial council's PPP, Gyeonggi Province drew from the Unified Fiscal Stabilization Fund and the Regional Development Fund starting in 2020 while President Lee served as governor to fund disaster relief subsidies and other expenditures.

The amounts borrowed from the Unified Fiscal Stabilization Fund into the general account total 1.5862 trillion won, consisting of 455 billion won in 2021, 105.2 billion won in 2023, 154.8 billion won in 2024, 665.3 billion won last year, and 205.9 billion won this year.

The size of borrowings transferred from the Regional Development Fund to the general account totals 4.3471 trillion won, consisting of 828.8 billion won in 2020, 825.5 billion won in 2021, 81.8 billion won in 2023, 1.0587 trillion won in 2024, 1.0224 trillion won last year, and 529.9 billion won this year.

Based on these figures, the provincial council's PPP emphasized, "Out of Gyeonggi Province's 7 trillion won in debt, 5.1 trillion won represents accumulated fund borrowings, excluding partially repaid amounts," adding that "the lax fiscal management of the 7th and 8th popular terms has brought about this disastrous reality."

Consequently, they demanded that Governor Choo strongly urge President Lee Jae-myung to adjust the ratio of national to local taxes, unreasonable national-to-provincial matching funding ratios, and excessive welfare spending, and ensure those changes are implemented.

(Photo provided by the People Power Party at the Gyeonggi Provincial Council, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.