The government and government-affiliated research institutes collided with public corporation debt, and the media added it to the state debt.
When KDI, under the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, issued a report stating that the debt of public corporations was the highest among OECD member countries, the Ministry of Finance countered it as'independent assets of public corporations' rather than national debts as assets could increase further, and the media completely encroached on the capital and national debt of Korea It reported 1,300 trillion won.
The KDI (Korea Development Institute)'s debt report for public corporations recorded 23.5% of GDP (non-financial) at the time in 2017, the highest level among OECD member countries excluding Norway, and the debt of public finance companies was 62.7% of GDP. It was announced on the 20th that it was the highest among the nations.
Hae-young Woo, Director of Public Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Equipment, said, “Unlike national debt, public institution debt has a separate debt-sharing capability for each institution. Unless public institutions are not able to pay off their debts, it would not be appropriate to link them with national debt. “Financial public corporations' debts are completely different from non-financial public corporations' debts in that they are provisional debts generated during the lending process.” .
The Ministry of Science and Technology increased the debt of public institutions in 2016 (50 trillion KRW), but the asset size increased by more than 100 trillion KRW compared to 2016 (799 trillion KRW) and the debt ratio decreased from 167.2% to 152.6%. Announced adoption.
Accordingly, reports of Korea National Oil Corporation's debt scale and capital erosion came out one after another.
Korea National Oil Corporation announced that it was in a state of complete capital erosion for the first time since its foundation in 1979, with 83% dependence on external borrowings, 14.6685 billion won in interest-bearing debt, and over 400 billion won in annual interest.
There is also a report that the Korea Mineral Resources Corporation has been in a state of capital erosion since 2016, and that the eroded capital has increased more than four times over the past four years.
Previously, KDI Research Fellow Hwang Soon-ju said in a report on'Improvement Measures for Public Enterprise Debt and Public Corporation Debt Problems', “public corporation debt is in the blind spot of management and control unlike government debt.” “Public institutions always recognize the highest level of creditworthiness. "This is because of the belief that the government will step forward and pay back if public institutions are in crisis of bankruptcy."
Regarding the government's national debt of 846 trillion KRW, the Seoul Economic Daily said, “If the public sector debt is combined, it will increase to 1,132 trillion KRW (59.0% of GDP) as of 2019. 'D4', the national debt of the company, is estimated to be about 2,300 trillion won as of last year,” he reported on the day.
The Ministry of Science and Technology revealed that the cause of the high debt of public corporations as explanatory data "Korea is in charge of a wider range of areas than major countries in order to provide stable supply of life-related services such as energy, railroads, and medical care", linking it to the national debt for maintaining the low price system. did.
The Ministry of Science and Technology announced that last year's debts of 340 public institutions were 55.2 trillion won, but assets were 902 trillion won, which is ‘can be afforded.’ In 2016, the combined assets increased significantly from 59.4 trillion won in debt and 799 trillion won in assets.
KDI reports that the KDI report issued 9 times of public corporation bonds, which would be impossible for ordinary companies in the state of non-capital, if debts were subtracted from assets last year. He pointed out that what he borrowed is'the state's tacit guarantee'.