South Korea on Friday announced plans to pump at least $20 billion in its economy which has suffered due to the outbreak of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus.

The Business Standard reported that the South Korean ministers agreed to release a 22 trillion Won budget to help people whose businesses and livelihood have been most affected by the MERS onslaught. The announced stimulus budget also includes the 15 trillion won additional budget that has been earlier declared by the government.

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South Korean health officials have confirmed that a total of 184 people had contacted the virus as of July 3. The virus has claimed the lives of 33 of its citizens and at least 42 people are in the hospital.

The South Korean government believes that the stimulus budget will help its economy expand this year by at least 3.1 percent, by 2016 it hopes to increase it by 3.5 percent.

However, the BBC reported that the additional money may not be enough to reach the 3.1 percent goal.

BBC Analyst Stephen Evans compared the path taken by the South Korea in contrast with some European countries. He said that Great Britain and Germany are keeping government spending at the minimum to keep pace with the decrease of their country's economic growth.

South Korea, however, has decided to increase government spending in order to spur the growth of its country's economy.

A three percent increase in economic growth would delight many western countries, but not for Asian countries such as South Korea, whose economy is mostly driven by exports.

Evans believes that some of the government's stimulus will be allocated medical facilities in order to help them combat the dreaded virus. The tourism industry has also suffered greatly as many potential visitors decided to forgo their trips to the country. Farmers, who are currently suffering from a drought, will also receive some of the money.

Critics of South Korean president Park Geun-Hye say she did not prepare the country to handle such a health crisis, according to Yahoo. Some foreign observers have commented that the government has not been open about the true extent of the MERS virus in the country.

TagsMERS, south korea MERS, MERS outbreak, korean supplementary budget, south korean economy