The National Assembly Budget Office (Chief Dongha Chi) held its annual consultative meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday, November 14, in compliance with Article IV of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement. This annual consultation process is a standard procedure through which the IMF engages with member countries to discuss broader economic matters, including macroeconomic, foreign exchange, and financial issues.

The meeting was attended by Hyejeong Sim, Tax Analysis Counsel at NABO, and Mr. Rahul Anand, Mission Chief for Korea at the IMF among others.

NABO and the IMF had in-depth discussions on short-term financial issues such as Korea's fiscal outlook, tax revenue deficit, and the direction of the 2025 budget, as well as long-term financial issues such as fiscal rules and pension reform, health insurance and pension financial prospects, and tax revenue expansion.

NABO and the IMF exchanged detailed opinions on the government's tax deficit and its underlying causes, discrepancies between the government and NABO’s forecast on the managed fiscal balance, the need for tax base expansion and spending restructuring, and the government's pension reform plan.

Upon the meeting’s conclusion, Mr. Rahul Anand, leading the mission team, expressed satisfaction with the substantive discussions. He highlighted the value of hearing diverse expert perspectives from NABO regarding Korea’s fiscal situation and emphasized his hope for continued dialogue and communication in future consultations.