Net lending of public sector up 94% in 2015

The net lending of South Korea's public sector jumped 94 percent on-year in 2015, posting a surplus for the second straight year, the country's central bank said Thursday.

Net lending -- which refers to total revenue minus total expenditures -- came to 33.8 trillion won ($30 billion) in 2015, compared with 17.4 trillion won from a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.

 The bank said total revenue of the general government sector and public corporations reached a record high of 735.6 trillion won, up 24.2 trillion won from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, total expenditures of the general government sector and public corporations stood at 701.8 trillion won in 2015, up 7.8 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the bank.

The BOK said total expenditures of the public sector accounted for 45 percent of nominal gross domestic product in 2015, down 1.7 percentage points from a year earlier.

The central government posted a deficit of 25.2 trillion won, while provincial governments and social security funds posted surpluses of 4.5 trillion won and 42.7 trillion won, respectively.

The BOK said the public sector's deficit, excluding social security funds, accounted for 0.6 percent of the nominal gross domestic product in 2015, compared with 4.4 percent in Britain and 2.5 percent in Australia. (Yonhap)