Lee says now is time to expand economic pie, rather than welfare
President Lee Jae Myung said Wednesday it is unrealistic to pursue both economic growth and welfare expansion for now, stressing that priority should be placed on expanding the economic pie rather than welfare. The president wrote the message on his X account, uploading a media column that argued the government's budget bill for next year relatively lacked spending on "distribution." "Giving up…
President Lee Jae Myung emphasized on Wednesday the need to prioritize economic growth over welfare expansion for now. In a statement on his X account, Lee argued that focusing on expanding the economic pie should be the government's top priority, rather than welfare. He wrote that pursuing both growth and welfare simultaneously is ideal but ultimately unrealistic.
Lee stressed that giving up growth while expanding welfare should never be done, as it is an unattainable goal. He pointed out that now is the time to concentrate on growth to expand the economic pie. Despite this stance, Lee maintained that the government has not reduced welfare spending. He warned that if the government fails to recover sustained growth and heads towards zero or negative growth, economic polarization would worsen and could even lead to a decline in welfare.
The government is also monitoring welfare policies, but Lee indicated that more time would be required for further measures. The previous day, the government had proposed a record 820.9 trillion won ($599 billion) budget bill.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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