EARLY EDITION 18:00 Korea lays out US$10.5 bill. extra budget plan to boost growth, deal with MERS

ARIRANG NEWS 18:00 Title: Korea lays out US$10.5 bill. extra budget plan to boost growth, deal with MERS Korea has unveiled a multi-billion dollar supplementary budget plan, designed to help the country deal with the fallout from the MERS outbreak and the ongoing drought. The government will hand the budget to the National Assembly next Monday. Shin Se-min starts us off. The Korean government will inject 19-point-six billion U.S. dollars worth of stimulus funds into the flagging economy in the second half of the year as it aims to hold the country′s economic growth rate in the three percent range. Of that, ten-and-a-half billion U.S. dollars of supplementary budget has been set aside to deal with Korea′s most pressing issues. "The extra budget should help stabilize the livelihoods of ordinary people who have been affected the most by the MERS outbreak and to prevent a sharp drop in consumer spending." From the supplementary budget,… five-point-five billion dollars will directly go to counter losses from the MERS outbreak and the ongoing drought. And the remaining amount will cover tax revenue shortfalls for this year caused by the slowing economy. "The timing and amount of the budget seems sufficient to quickly put the economy back on the recovery track as its role is to deal with the most pressing matters." The extra spending is estimated to raise the economic growth rate by zero-point-three percentage points this year and zero-point-four in 2016. Still,... concerns linger over the country′s fiscal soundness... as the finance ministry plans to sell eight-and-a-half billion dollar′s worth of new treasury bonds to fund the extra budget. "By issuing new treasury bonds, Korea′s fiscal soundness may be damaged,... and potentially drag down the economy, as the country will have to pay back years later." The extra budget will raise the government debt to 37-and-a-half percent of GDP this year,... up nearly 2-percentage points from last year. "Experts also point out that it′s crucial for the government to continue to push through its structural reform efforts,... on top of the extra budget to help sustain the country′s economic growth in the long run. Shin Se-min, Arirang News." Title: Embattled ruling party′s floor leader presided over meeting overseeing presidential secretariat Putting the ongoing internal disputes in respective parties on hold... the delayed House Steering Committee meeting involving the ruling Saenuri Party, the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy and secretaries from the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae got underway this Friday. Our Park Ji-won has more on this tense encounter between ruling party floor leader and presidential officials. Embattled ruling party′s floor leader Yoo Seong-min chaired Friday′s House Steering Committee meeting session to oversee the presidential secretariat. "The meeting adopts the budget settlement on t