South Korea's national debt totaled 489.8 trillion won as of the end of 2013, up 46.6 trillion won from a year earlier, the government reported Tuesday.
The figure accounted for 34.3 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).
According to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the debt owed by the central government and local administrations rose 38.9 trillion won on-year to 464.1 trillion won and 7.7 trillion won to 25.7 trillion won, respectively. The government spending plan for fiscal 2015 is expected to further increase the country's debt to about 570 trillion won, or 35.7 percent of the GDP, next year, experts say. Last week, the Cabinet approved the budget proposal for next year, which is scaled at 376 trillion won (US$361 billion), up 5.7 percent from this year, the highest spending hike since the late 2000s.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
