The National Assembly Budget Office (NABO, Chief Dong-ha Chi) held its Grand Debate on the 2025 Budget Bill on Tuesday, November 5, at 10 am in Conference Room 1 of the National Assembly Members’ Building. The debate aimed to establish proper directions for the National Assembly’s examination of the government’s budget proposal.

In his opening remarks, Chief Chi expressed his expectations for the debate to highlight key issues for upcoming budget deliberations and to clarify the directions for both ruling and opposition parties. He emphasized the importance of gathering diverse perspectives on fiscal policy for stabilizing people’s lives, evaluating the effectiveness of major fiscal projects, and ensuring fiscal soundness to explore constructive alternatives for next year's national finances.

Speaker Won-shik Woo, in his written address, highlighted three critical challenges: the population crisis, rural extinction crisis, and climate crisis. He emphasized the necessity of establishing a sustainable virtuous cycle by expanding the tax base to meet growing expenditure needs, while ensuring sophisticated tax revenue estimates to overcome these national crises. Speaker Woo called upon both ruling and opposition parties to take responsibility and make special efforts that meet public expectations in this first budget deliberation of the 22nd National Assembly.

Jung Park, chairman of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, acknowledged the challenging economic and fiscal conditions but stressed the crucial role of finance. He pledged that the committee, through budget deliberations beginning on the 7th, would work diligently to minimize fiscal waste and effectively reallocate the saved resources to areas critical for stabilizing people’s lives and strengthening national competitiveness.

The debate was moderated by Professor Yoon-hee Won of the University of Seoul. Presentations were delivered by Dong-il Kim, Deputy Minister for the Budget Office of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and Kyung-ho Kim, Assistant Chief for Budget Analysis at NABO. The discussions panel included Professor Deok-hyun Ryu of Chung-Ang University and Professor Byung-hoon Seok of Ewha Womans University.

In conclusion, Chief Chi expressed he hopes that the insights from this Grand Debate would be effectively utilized in the budget review processby the National Assembly's standing committees and the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts.