Public Finance of the Republic of Korea 2026

 

Published on March 18, 2026
Published by Budget Analysis Coordination Division



 

    This report, prepared to support the National Assembly's deliberation on budgets and settlements, aims to provide an organized analysis and summary of the Republic of Korea's fiscal structure, major fiscal systems, key aspects of the 2026 budget and funds, major fiscal programs operated by ministries under each standing committee, and key statistics in three parts and 26 chapters.
   Part 1 introduces an overview of the Republic of Korea's fiscal structure and major systems, provides a comprehensive summary of the country's fiscal status including revenues, expenditures, fiscal balance, and government debt, and explains the general fiscal process from budget formulation to deliberation, execution, and settlement by the National Assembly. In Part 1, recent fiscal issues are also discussed, including revisions to the allocation of the Local Extinction Response Fund and reforms of the government's fiscal report. In addition, new topics such as government bonds for individual investors are introduced, along with a comparison of budget deliberations between Korea and the US.
   In Part 2, key aspects of the 2026 budget and fund operation plans as well as the National Assembly's deliberations on the 2026 budget proposals and other matters are discussed. In Part 3, an analysis and overview of the fiscal status and major fiscal programs operated by government ministries under each of the 16 standing committees are provided. More specifically, Part 3 presents major fiscal programs and key functions of these ministries, along with a wide range of fiscal statistics to highlight their implications for citizens' lives, and newly introduced fiscal programs by each ministry.
   The appendix features a timeline of major fiscal reforms, offering a glimpse of the changes in Korea's fiscal systems.