Gov't moves to refine integrated fiscal evaluation system; minister vows reinvestment in proven programs

The government will refine its newly introduced integrated fiscal project performance evaluation system, incorporating lessons from its first run this year and feedback from the field. A second basic plan for fiscal performance management — laying out a medium- to long-term vision for 2027–2031 — is to be finalized by year-end.

The Ministry of Planning and Budget said it co-hosted the "2026 Fiscal Performance Management Symposium" with the Korea Institute of Public Finance and the Korea Public Finance Information Service on Tuesday at the Korea Press Center in Seoul.

The symposium was organized to review the achievements and challenges of the integrated fiscal project performance evaluation system in its inaugural year, and to explore directions for improving the broader fiscal performance management regime, including performance target management and fund evaluation.

Minister of Planning and Budget Park Hong-keun said in his opening remarks that the government's shift to an expansionary fiscal stance to overcome the economic slowdown was generating a V-shaped recovery. "More important than the quantitative expansion of fiscal spending is the qualitative outcome — ensuring that not a single won of taxpayers' money goes to waste," he said.

Park described the integrated fiscal project performance evaluation as "a new turning point in fiscal performance management." He said the ministry would continuously refine and develop the system so that it takes root as a sustainable framework for fiscal innovation, drawing on the experience of the first run and voices from the field.

He also said fiscal performance management is not simply a tool for cutting budgets. "We must shed outdated projects and reinvest in those with proven results, so we can concentrate our capacity where it is truly needed — in future growth engines and youth support," he said. The ministry said it intends to make this the core driver for establishing a virtuous cycle of active fiscal policy, economic growth and fiscal soundness.

At the symposium, Jeong Chang-gil, director general for fiscal performance at the ministry, explained the background behind the introduction of the integrated fiscal project evaluation. Woo Seok-jin, head of the fiscal project evaluation team, then presented his experience of the integrated evaluation from the field.

Professor Kim Wan-hee and Kang Hee-woo, head of the fiscal evaluation research division at the Korea Institute of Public Finance, presented "The 2026 Integrated Fiscal Project Evaluation Through Data," examining the institutional achievements of the first run and the challenges ahead.

Case studies on evidence-based performance management using data were also shared. Kim Bong-seop, an associate research fellow at the National Assembly Futures Institute, Kim Moon-jeong, a research fellow at the Korea Institute of Public Finance, and Kim Sang-hyo, a research fellow at the Korea Rural Economic Institute, presented findings on the effects of youth policy by income group, empirical research on improving the youth labor market, and case studies on building rural basic income data and evaluating its outcomes.

Since July, the ministry has been operating a performance management improvement TF composed of private-sector experts, divided into three working groups covering fiscal project evaluation, performance target management, and fund evaluation. The symposium used the TF's deliberations as a basis for discussing strategies to strengthen the link between fiscal project evaluation results and expenditure restructuring, and to improve the effectiveness of the performance target management and fund evaluation systems.

The ministry will also draw up a medium- to long-term fiscal performance management framework reflecting the views of academics and field experts presented at the symposium. It plans to finalize the second basic plan for performance management — covering the medium- to long-term vision for 2027–2031 — by year-end.