South Korea President Moon vows to raise fiscal spending to create jobs

[SEOUL] South Korea President Moon Jae In said on Monday the government will further boost fiscal spending if needed to increase jobs, as the country deals with its worst unemployment rate in two decades.

In a speech marking his fourth year in office, Mr Moon also said policies will focus on making sure the economy expands more than 4 per cent this year, a rosier outlook than the finance ministry's current forecast of between 3per cent and 4 per cent.

"We will pay more attention to young people and women who are undergoing hardships. Drafting additional fiscal spending would be an option if needed while quickly executing the (existing) job budget," Mr Moon said in a televised speech.

An active stimulus approach by policymakers has produced a modest domestic recovery. The government pledged to spend about 310 trillion won (S$196 billion) of fiscal outlays through four supplementary budgets in 2020.

Exports are firing up to outweigh domestic demand, but job losses continued through the first quarter of this year, leading to the highest unemployment rate in two decades of 5 per cent in the January-March period.

That's hurting Mr Moon's image as a self-styled "Jobs President", having pledged to add 500,000 new jobs every year during his five-year presidency.

Mr Moon's single five-year term ends in 2022.

REUTERS