South Korea focuses on fiscal discipline with smallest budget increase in two decades

South Korea's government plans to raise budget spending to nearly $497 billion for 2024, but the proposed increase is the smallest in two decades as authorities prioritise fiscal discipline amid weakening tax revenue due to slower economic growth. In its annual spending plan released on Tuesday, the finance ministry set total government expenditure for 2024 at 656.9 trillion won ($496.70 billion), up 2.8% from 2023. That is smaller than this year's 5.2% increase and the smallest-ever boost since fiscal statistics were last revised at the beginning of 2005, according to the ministry, excluding supplementary budgets.