South Gyeongsang Province secures W11.68tr in national budget for 2027

South Gyeongsang Province announced Thursday that 11.68 trillion won ($8.53 billion) in national government funding had been included in the 2027 draft national budget. The figure represents a 591.9 billion won, or 5.3 percent, increase from this year's 11.09 trillion won allocation, marking the second consecutive year the province has secured more than 11 trillion won in national funds.

The sharpest growth came in industry and research and development spending, which jumped 86.4 percent year-on-year to 1.08 trillion won. Culture and tourism funding also rose 38 percent to 182.8 billion won.

Welfare spending climbed 4.4 percent to 4.82 trillion won. By contrast, social overhead capital infrastructure fell 15.1 percent to 1.54 trillion won, while agriculture and fisheries funding dropped 9.7 percent to 834.4 billion won.

Among growth-engine initiatives, two projects were newly added at 3 billion won each: a manufacturing AI and robotics valley centered on the Changwon National Industrial Complex, and a localization technology development project for aerospace functional materials.

Ongoing projects receiving continued funding include 98.6 billion won for physical AI technology development and demonstration, 13.7 billion won for a space industry cluster, and 4 billion won for a defense innovation cluster 2.0 program. Small modular reactor innovative manufacturing localization technology development also received 15.8 billion won, giving further momentum to efforts to build a nuclear power industry ecosystem.

Infrastructure spending was organized around essential construction phases for major projects. The Southern Inland Railway linking Gimcheon and Geoje, targeted for completion by the end of 2031, received 200.6 billion won. Jinhae New Port Phase 1 construction was allocated 481.6 billion won, the Namhae-Yeosu road project 61.7 billion won, and the Busan New Port–Gimhae expressway 59.7 billion won.

In the public welfare and safety category, new allocations included 11.5 billion won for a second phase of ward expansion at Masan Medical Center, 1 billion won for a flood-prevention sewage improvement project in Geoje's Suyang district, and 1.2 billion won for the introduction of unmanned firefighting robots. An additional 9.2 billion won was set aside for the establishment of the South Gyeongsang Western Medical Center, while 203.9 billion won was earmarked for disaster prevention projects including improvements to natural disaster risk zones.

Meanwhile, several projects were left out of the draft budget, including the Geoje–Tongyeong expressway, the Hansandaecheop Bridge, the southeastern circular metropolitan railway, and the relocation and reconstruction of Geochang Red Cross Hospital. South Gyeongsang Province said it plans to push for these projects to be added during the National Assembly's budget review process.

"We will strengthen coordination with local Assembly members and municipal governments to actively engage in the National Assembly's budget deliberations," a provincial official said.