The government plans to aggressively frontload next year's budget in the first half to help bolster growth of the sputtering economy amid flagging exports and still weak domestic demand, the finance ministry said Tuesday.
  

The 2016 resource allocation plan approved by the Cabinet calls for 68 percent of next year's more than 330.6 trillion won ($281 billion) budget to be spent before the end of June, the ministry said.
  

The move comes as the ministry downgraded next year's growth forecast from 3.5 percent to 3.3 percent in September, in the face of weak global trade. It also lowered the growth estimate for 2015 from 3.8 percent to 3.1 percent, although the Bank of Korea expects Asia's fourth largest economy will grow just 2.7 percent this year.
  

"Money to be used in the first half will be used to create more jobs, stabilize the livelihood of lower income households and prop up the country's growth momentum," the ministry said.
  

In addition, the government will allocate some 3.48 trillion won before the start of the 2016 fiscal year, so money can be injected into various projects immediately starting on Jan. 1.
  

The money set aside in advance will not only make timely spending possible in the new year, but can allow public announcements for new projects to be made in December.
  

"Projects that can benefit from this arrangement will be those that have the most impact on the general public, and projects that can help fuel economic growth," it said.
  

The government has been frontloading its annual budget for the past several years in order to boost growth early on and meet calls by the business community for more public spending. The state is by far the biggest spender in the country so more money it uses generates demand and helps growth. (Yonhap)