South Korea's parliament approved a 2012 government budget bill late on Saturday, just half an hour before the new year began and after a near month-long delay due to disputes between the ruling and opposition parties. The 325.4 trillion won ($282.5 billion) budget bill, little changed in size from the government's earlier proposal, aims to boost welfare spending in a year when two nation-wide elections will he held.
The government still aims to cut the fiscal deficit to 1.1 percent of gross domestic product in 2012 from this year's target of 2.0 percent by scaling down construction and other spending, the finance ministry said in a statement. Government debt is set to fall to 33.3 percent of GDP in 2012 from a projected 35.1 percent in 2011, although the absolute amount is set to rise slightly, the ministry said. President Lee Myung-bak's party has suffered defeats in a few recent by-elections and re-elections amid a public outcry over high inflation and slow income growth, and he has been moving to boost welfare spending to woo back voters.
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