Haven't even used it all this year... Government's 'Matong' amount hits record high with interest alone at 150 billion won

Cumulative Loan Amount Reaches 113.6 Trillion Won by the End of September

The government has been found to have borrowed more than 113 trillion won from the Bank of Korea over a period of nine months. The interest alone amounts to approximately 150 billion won.

According to the 'Details of Temporary Loans and Interest Amounts to the Government' data submitted by the Bank of Korea to Yang Kyung-sook, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee (Democratic Party), the cumulative amount temporarily loaned by the government from the Bank of Korea from January to the end of September this year totaled 113.6 trillion won.

The newly constructed integrated annex of the Bank of Korea completed after 6 years.
[Photo by Joint Press Corps] [Image source=Yonhap News]

This is the largest amount since related statistics were computerized in 2010. The cumulative amount by the end of September alone achieved the highest amount ever recorded.

This is 3.32 times the total cumulative loan amount of last year (34.2 trillion won). Even in 2020, when government spending rapidly increased due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the loan amount for the entire year was 102.913 trillion won, which is less than the loan amount for the nine months of this year.

The Bank of Korea's temporary loan system to the government is a means used to cover temporary cash shortages caused by timing differences between government revenues and expenditures during the fiscal year.

It is similar to an individual opening a negative balance account (credit limit loan) at a bank to cover insufficient funds when needed and repaying the amount used when surplus funds become available.

The government has also repeatedly borrowed and repaid money. The average balance of temporary loans to the government this year was calculated at 5.8145 trillion won.

However, as of the end of last September, the government's temporary loan balance with the Bank of Korea was zero, meaning the entire 113.6 trillion won has been fully repaid.

Up to July, the government's total revenue was 353.4 trillion won, and total expenditure was 391.2 trillion won. This means a deficit of 37.9 trillion won was recorded.