S. Korea to maintain efforts toward better fiscal health

South Korea will continue its efforts to keep its fiscal health in good shape amid growing global economic uncertainties and worries over rising demand for welfare spending, a senior finance ministry official said Monday. "As the economy keeps recovering, our fiscal status is improving fast and it also seems it is remaining in better shape than other advanced nations," Vice Finance Minister Yoo Sung-kull told a fiscal policy conference jointly hosted by the World Bank and the state-run Korea Development Institute. "However, now is not the time to fall into complacency," he added. "Externally, global economic uncertainties persist as the fiscal debt crisis in advanced nations is spreading, while internally, the demand for welfare spending will likely spike amid the fast-aging population and low birth rates." Yoo said that the government will continue its efforts to expand the tax revenue base and streamline spending in a bid to meet its 2013 targeted deadline by which it aims to attain a balanced budget. He noted that the government will improve the nation's overall fiscal management system in order to better predict and cope with future risks that could possibly stem from the fast-changing demographic landscape. Meanwhile, Yoo said during a meeting with other policymakers later in the day that the government has carried out 95.5 percent of its fiscal spending plan for this year. In a bid to "actively" respond to heightened economic uncertainties, he added that the government will execute all other planned projects without delay to help boost domestic demand and recovery.