Public debt continued to skyrocket in Q3 of 2011

The debt held by the Korean public sector rose to nearly 800 trillion won ($715 billion) in the third quarter, data showed yesterday, dealing another blow to a country which is grappling with high household debt.

The public sector’s debt stood at 789.4 trillion won as of the end of the third quarter, up 9.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the central bank. The figure is more than double the government’s 2012 budget of 325.4 trillion won.

The public sector includes the central and provisional governments and state-run companies.

The growth rate of debt held by state-run firms is much sharper than that of debt owned by the government, data showed.

State-run companies’ debt amounted to 363.8 trillion won as of end-September, up 9.6 percent from the previous year.

Experts said the public sector’s debt rose mainly because the government secured funds via debt sales by state-run firms to cover national projects.

Yonhap