긴급재난지원금 '2차 추경안' 본회의 통과…5월 중순 지급
Rival parties passed the second supplementary budget of the year.
The government can now distribute disaster relief funds designed to cushion the economic blow caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Kim Mok-yeon has our top story.
South Korea's National Assembly has passed a 10 billion U.S. dollar extra budget bill, giving the greenlight to distribute emergency relief funds to the public in the aftermath of COVID-19.
The bill passed during Wednesday's late plenary session is the second of its kind after the first in March...and is up 3.8 million dollars from the government's original budget proposal.
Lawmakers and the government decided to expand the scope of who would be eligible...from the lower 70-percent income bracket to all citizens.
The extra 3.8 million dollars will be financed by issuing national bonds worth 2.8 million and the rest coming from an adjusted annual expenditure budget.
The government plans to push through with a third supplementary budget in June.
Now that the bill has been passed, the government plans to distribute the emergency relief money to some 21-point-7 million households nationwide by mid-May.
The amount will vary depending on the size of the household.
Four-person households will receive around 800 U.S. dollars while two-member households will get around 500 dollars.
A special bill that will allow the government to receive donations from high-income earners, who are willing to donate their share, has also been passed.
People who decide to donate will be able to receive tax credits of 15 percent of their expenses during their year-end tax adjustments.
Also during Wednesday's plenary session, around one hundred non-contentious bills were passed, including a package of bills aimed at strengthening punishments for digital sex crimes.
Kim Mok-yeon, Arirang News.
