S. Korea's national debt nearly doubles over 7 yrs: report

SEOUL, Sept. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's national debt, including its potential and contingent liabilities, nearly doubled over the past seven years, a government report showed Tuesday.
The national debt "in a broad sense" stood at 1,848.4 trillion won (US$1.62 trillion) at the end of last year, up from 934.4 trillion won tallied at the end of 2003, according to the report submitted to Rep. Lee Hahn-koo of the ruling Grand National Party ahead of a parliamentary audit.
The report is based on the data provided by the finance ministry and the Bank of Korea.
The figure included such debts as the government's contingent liabilities, surety obligations, potential deficits by public pensions, foreign exchange stabilization bonds issued by the central bank and the liabilities of state-run firms, the report showed.
In particular, the government's "direct" debts consisting of state bonds and other borrowing came to 392.8 trillion won, up 31.4 percent from the end of 2007, just before the Lee government took office, the report showed.
Debts from state-owned enterprises also spiked 58.2 percent to 376.3 trillion won over the same period, according to the report.
Based on the figures, the national debt has grown by an annual average of 11.2 percent under the Lee Myung-bak administration. The growth rate is higher than a 7.9 percent increase under the previous administration.