아시아 외환위기 이후 IMF가 한국 재정법제에 미친 영향

The Impact of the International Monetary Fund on the 2007 Korean National Fiscal Act After the 1997-8 Asian Currency Crisis In the era of modern welfare states, it becomes almost undeniable fact that national fiscal policies play a significant role in promoting individuals’ freedom. It is well recognized that non-transparency and unsoundness in fiscal practices would impair peoples’ welfare, and cause financial crisis at domestic level and currency crisis at international level as well. For these reasons, it can be said that fiscal transparency and soundness would make a major contribution to individuals’ freedom and domestic financial market’s stability. In this context, it seems that the International Monetary Fund's the Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency and its Manual shows a good example of the new role of the IMF after the 1997 asian currency crisis. Although the Code is not a legal binding international treaty but a soft law at best, many IMF member countries have reflected some parts of the Code in renovating their countries’ fiscal/budget laws because of the effectiveness of the Code for promoting fiscal transparency and soundness. In case of Korea, some parts of the IMF’s Code are well reflected in the 2007 National Fiscal Act. Indeed, Korean governments have actively accepted international standards for promoting transparency and soundness in fiscal/financial factors since the 1997 financial/currency crisis. However, because of political reasons, Korean governments failed to build a legal framework which could properly control serious contingent liabilities problems. For this reason, it is highly needed to revise the 2007 National Fiscal Act to review and control contingent liabilities as soon as possible.