South Korea will help sustain its economic growth this year by frontloading its budget spending during the first half in the face of tough economic conditions at home and abroad, the finance minister said Wednesday.

“We will introduce a plan next week to frontload (this year‘s) fiscal budget in order to systematically support expenditures being pursued by each ministry and agency,” Bahk Jae-wan told a crisis management meeting with other policymakers.

“I want you to make sure that the assigned budget can be spent swiftly and in a timely manner,” said the policymaker, citing the government forecast that the economic trend will be tougher in the first half than in the latter part of this year.

His remarks are in line with the government’s plan to focus its fiscal spending during the early months in a bid to stimulate spending and job creation in the face of toughening economic situations.

On Tuesday, the finance ministry said that it will frontload 60 percent of this year‘s budget in the January-June period to help sustain growth.

To that end, the ministry said that it will complete assigning 197.7 trillion won ($172.6 billion) or 70 percent of the total spending to each ministry and agency during the first half. The first-half frontloading ratio is the highest in 10 years.

The government is currently painting a somewhat gloomy picture of the nation’s economy for this year, saying that its exports, in particular, will be affected by slowing global business conditions.

Last month, the ministry revised down its growth outlook for this year from 4.5 percent to 3.7 percent. That is lower than the 3.8 percent growth projected for 2011. (Yonhap News)