South Korea fin min says seeking to boost budget by nearly 9pc for 2020

SEOUL: South Korea's finance minister said on Thursday the government was seeking to increase the budget for next year by nearly 9% over the original budget for this year, to support an economy hit hard by trade disputes and cooling global demand.

"The government is working on next year's budget, which will be scaled at more than 510 trillion won ($422.59 billion)," Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said in response to a question during a parliamentary committee session.

It would be 8.6% more than original budget of 469.6 trillion won for this year, though that does not take account of the extra budget that was approved recently.