April 19, 2024
Economy
Korea’s public debt tops W1,000tr
[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s public sector debt has breached the 1,000 trillion won (US$831.29 billion) mark for the first time, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance revealed on Dec. 23.
According to the ministry, debt held by the government and state-run companies excluding financial institutions at the end of 2015 came to about 1.003 quadrillion won, rising 4.8 percent from the previous year. The debt-to-GDP ratio, however, inched down 0.1 percentage point to 64.4 percent.
The rise in overall debt was fueled by the government debt, which saw an increase of 55.6 trillion won to come in at 676.2 trillion won. In contrast, non-financial state-run companies’ debt was reduced by 9.6 trillion won over the same period to come in at 408.5 trillion won.
By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)
According to the ministry, debt held by the government and state-run companies excluding financial institutions at the end of 2015 came to about 1.003 quadrillion won, rising 4.8 percent from the previous year. The debt-to-GDP ratio, however, inched down 0.1 percentage point to 64.4 percent.
The rise in overall debt was fueled by the government debt, which saw an increase of 55.6 trillion won to come in at 676.2 trillion won. In contrast, non-financial state-run companies’ debt was reduced by 9.6 trillion won over the same period to come in at 408.5 trillion won.
By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)
