SEOUL, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- The South Korean government is planning to frontload 60 percent of its annual budget during the first half of this year so as to speed up its economic recovery, the finance ministry said Tuesday.

    According to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the government plans to tap 60.1 percent of the planned expenditure budget during the first six months of 2010, expecting to spend 163trillion won (145 billion U.S. dollars).

    If enacted, the spending will hover above the fiscal spending during the 1st half of 2009, 160.8 trillion won (143.2 billion U.S. dollars), or 64.8 percent of the budget.

    The announced figure is also higher than the budget execution target of 160.8 trillion won (143.1 billion U.S. dollars), which was set last year.

    The government explained that the move comes in a bid to accelerate the nation's economic recovery, as it did in 2009.

    The government has been expanding fiscal spending, as well as frontloading it, and other stimulus measures to bolster the nation's economy in the wake of global financial turmoil started in September 2008.

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis