This file photo, taken on May 21, 2021, shows a sign put up at a store in Seoul’s shopping district of Myeongdong about a temporary closure over the pandemic. (Yonhap)
SEJONG, June 12 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s national debt is growing at a rate of 3 million won (US$2,730) per second and stands at 17.6 million won per person, a parliamentary office said Saturday.
The total debt by the central and provincial governments in Asia’s fourth-largest economy reached 912.5 trillion won as of 3:30 p.m. Saturday, according to the National Assembly Budget Office’s real time national debt clock.
The national debt has steadily increased, rising from 24.5 trillion won in 1990 and 111.2 trillion won in 2000 to 392.2 trillion won in 2010, the clock showed.
It ballooned to a record high of 846.9 trillion won last year as the government sharply expanded spending to mitigate the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and prop up the local economy.
The national debt is expected to reach 965.9 trillion won this year as the government created an extra budget to provide relief aid for small merchants and vulnerable people hit hard by the pandemic.
Since last year, the country has drawn up five rounds of extra budgets totaling 82 trillion won to tackle the economic impact of the coronavirus.
South Korea may face further debt burdens as some lawmakers are reviewing a bill designed to provide state compensation to smaller merchants and the self-employed who have suffered losses incurred by the pandemic.
(Yonhap)
