The government's dividend earnings from its stock holdings fell for the second year in a row to 329.1 billion won ($297.7 million) in 2014, mainly due to the poor performance of institutions it invested in, the finance ministry said Wednesday.
The dividend payment received represents a 33.2 percent, or 163.9 billion won, drop from the year prior. It, however, was more than the 325.1 billion won that policymakers expected to earn.
"Among the 29 state-invested companies that pay dividends, only17 were able to do so, with the rest reporting losses and a need to cover previous shortfalls that prevented them from paying the government," a ministry official said.
The government's earnings had shot up from just 199.4 billion won in 2010 to 433.9 billion won in the following year and hit 604.8 billion won in 2012.
The drop in dividend earnings comes as tax revenue for 2014 fell shy of the government target by 10.9 trillion won.
The tax office said it collected some 205.5 trillion won in taxes, up 3.6 trillion won compared to the year before.
The finance ministry said that as efforts to cover growing welfare-related spending, it will push companies to raise dividend payments by 2020 to be on par with other countries. South Korean state-investment institutions and corporations generally pay less in dividends than those in other countries.
The average dividend payout ratio, or the percentage of earnings paid to shareholders in dividends, for a local state-invested corporation stood at 21.54 percent last year, which is lower than the 24.19 percent in 2013. In comparison, numbers for Britain and France corporations all hover over the mid-40 percent range.
For 2015, the finance ministry said it is aiming to get 361.6 billion won in dividend payments, up 9.9 percent from the year before. (Yonhap)
