National Tax Revenue Increased by 48 Trillion Won, but Government Budget Deficit Reaches 86 Trillion Won... National Debt Hits 1,038 Trillion Won

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] The national debt is increasing rapidly. Although national tax revenue has increased by 48 trillion won compared to a year ago, the national budget deficit amounts to 86 trillion won. National debt rose by more than 9 trillion won in just one month, exceeding the second supplementary budget (supplementary budget) forecast to reach 1,038.2 trillion won.

According to the "Monthly Fiscal Trend (December 2022 issue)" announced by the Ministry of Economy and Finance on the 15th, total revenue from January to October this year was 537.6 trillion won, an increase of 47.8 trillion won compared to the same period last year.

Among this, national tax revenue was 355.6 trillion won, increasing by 48.2 trillion won over one year due to higher collections of income tax, corporate tax, and value-added tax. The tax revenue progress rate recorded 89.7%. This means that 89.7% of the 396.6 trillion won in taxes to be collected based on the second supplementary budget has been secured. Non-tax revenue was 25.3 trillion won, up 1.5 trillion won from a year ago, but fund revenue decreased by 2 trillion won during the same period to 156.5 trillion won due to a decline in asset management income.

Total expenditure from January to October was 580.7 trillion won, an increase of 71.5 trillion won compared to the same period last year. Expenditures increased due to local allocation tax and grants, COVID-19 crisis response projects, and payments of loss compensation funds to small business owners.

As government spending exceeded revenue, the integrated fiscal balance (total revenue - total expenditure) showed a deficit of 43.1 trillion won. Compared to a year ago, the deficit widened by 23.7 trillion won. The managed fiscal balance, which excludes the balances of the four major social security funds from the integrated fiscal balance to show the actual state of the national budget, recorded a deficit of 86.3 trillion won. This is an increase of 18.7 trillion won compared to a year ago, and the government expects the deficit to widen to 110.8 trillion won by the end of the year.

As of the end of October, national debt stood at 1,038.2 trillion won, increasing by 9.1 trillion won compared to the previous month. This exceeds the second supplementary budget forecast (1,037.7 trillion won). A Ministry of Economy and Finance official explained, "Considering the repayment of treasury bonds in December, the central government debt balance is expected to converge to the originally planned level by the end of the year."

From the beginning of this year to November, the cumulative issuance of treasury bonds was 164.8 trillion won. The government plans to reduce the issuance amount of treasury bonds in November by 1.7 trillion won compared to the previous month and further reduce it by 5.7 trillion won in December to 3.8 trillion won. Accordingly, the total treasury bond issuance this year is expected to be significantly reduced to 168.6 trillion won, below the annual issuance limit of 177.3 trillion won.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.