Seoul - Saba:
South Korea's fiscal deficit rose sharply in the first eight months of this year amid weak corporate performance, the country's finance ministry said Thursday.
The fiscal balance recorded a deficit of 84.2 trillion won ($62.43 billion) from January to August, larger than the 65.8 trillion won deficit recorded in the same period last year.
The ministry confirmed, according to the Korean News Agency ‘Yonhap’, that this figure is the third largest ever, and the deficit reached its highest level, recording 98.1 trillion won during the first seven months of 2020; due to the cash assistance provided by the Korean government to those affected by the Corona pandemic ‘Covid-19’.
Total revenue rose by 2.3 trillion won year-on-year to 396.7 trillion won during the period, thanks to an increase in non-tax income, while tax revenue fell by 9.4 trillion won to 232.2 trillion won due to a sharp decline in the government's collection of taxes from companies due to their poor performance.
According to the data, government debt stood at 1,167.3 trillion won as of the end of August, up 8 trillion won from July.
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