South Korea decided to frontload 72 percent of its 2013 budget expenditure in the first half in a bid to help stimulate the economy, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.

Of the 298.4 trillion won (280.48 billion U.S. dollars) of the government's annual expenditure, 213.6 trillion won or 72 percent of the total was allotted to the first half, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. The figure was up from the 70 percent frontloading for the previous year.

The ministry set its actual budget outlay target for the first half at 60 percent, but it allocated 72 percent of the total to the first half as part of efforts to achieve the expenditure goal smoothly.

The heavy frontloading at the first half came after the Finance Ministry slashed its 2013 growth outlook for the country to 3 percent from an earlier estimate of 4 percent. "The heavy frontloading will be executed in a bid to proactively respond to the economic slowdown stemming from the prolonged uncertainties over the global economy," the ministry said in a press release.

It added that it will put more focus on supporting job creation, building social overhead capital and stabilizing the livelihood of the working class people.