Public finance and financial management

This chapter describes the public finance and financial management systems in Korea. It discusses the scope and the size of central government, major revenue sources, functional expenditure, and fiscal balance. The chapter explains the current state of Korean budgetary institutions, processes, and major recent budgetary and financial management reform initiatives. The National Assembly is a relatively weak player in the budgetary process on two grounds. First, time allotted for budget review is usually less than two weeks of the 90-day regular session. Second, the heads of line ministries can, without approval from the National Assembly, increase outlays of public funds by up to 30 percent. The central Budget Office reviews agency requests by comparing information regarding program execution status, performance, and feasibility and approves these agency requests should they meet the overall expenditure ceilings and agenda priorities.