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| ▲ President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a meeting with his senior secretaries at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Feb. 26, 2026. (Yonhap) |
Lee-senior aides
Lee urges extra budget to be swiftly prepared to stabilize people's livelihoods, prop up recovery
By Yi Wonju
SEOUL, March 12 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday instructed his aides to swiftly prepare for an extra budget to help stabilize people's livelihoods and promote an economic recovery as the nation's economy is bracing for an impact from an intensifying war in the Middle East.
Lee made the call during a meeting with senior presidential aides, expressing concerns that heightening instability in the Middle East could weaken consumer and investment sentiment.
"We also need to swiftly inject funds to ensure that people's livelihoods and the economic recovery do not lose momentum, especially in times of crisis," Lee said. "A supplementary budget is unavoidable, so I ask that it be drafted as quickly as possible."
He urged officials to speed up the process of drafting the supplementary budget, which he said usually takes one to two months.
"We need wisdom not only in overcoming the current crisis on people's livelihoods but to use this crisis as a new opportunity for a major national transformation," Lee said.
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