Rhee Changyong: "National Debt Ratio Must Stay Below 80-90%... Mid- to Long-Term Growth Rate Should Be Lowered to 3%" [2025 National Audit]

Lee Changyong, Governor of the Bank of Korea, stated, "Since the Korean won is fundamentally not an internationalized currency, our national debt-to-GDP ratio must be clearly lower than that of advanced economies. Institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) view this level as 80 to 90 percent."

Lee Changyong, Governor of the Bank of Korea, is responding to questions from lawmakers during the National Assembly Planning and Finance Committee's audit of the Bank of Korea held on the 20th at the Bank of Korea in Jung-gu, Seoul. Bank of Korea

Governor Lee made these remarks in response to a question from Kwon Youngse, a lawmaker from the People Power Party, regarding the threshold level for the national debt ratio during the National Assembly Planning and Finance Committee's audit of the Bank of Korea held on the 20th.

Governor Lee added, "In the mid- to long-term, the national debt growth rate should be reduced to around 3 percent. If it continues to increase by 4 percent as it does now, the national debt will approach 60 percent by 2029, so we need to consider the long-term sustainability of debt growth."