Last year's budget deficit narrowed slightly from the year before, but the deficit-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio came in at 3.9%, the fourth largest on record. The ratio of government debt to GDP was 49%, up 3 percentage points (p) from a year earlier (46%). The government debt ratio, which fell in the year before last for the first time in six years, turned upward again last year.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance said on the 6th that the "financial statement for fiscal 2025" was reviewed and approved at a Cabinet meeting. This is the procedure that wraps up the government's annual accounts.
◇ Last year's budget deficit narrowed, but remains high
The consolidated fiscal balance, which subtracts total expenditure (684.1 trillion won) from total revenue (637.4 trillion won), showed a deficit of 46.7 trillion won. Excluding the social security fund balance (a surplus of 57.5 trillion won) for programs such as the National Pension, teachers' pension, employment insurance, and industrial accident insurance, the consolidated fiscal balance without social security fund, which shows the government's actual fiscal condition, recorded a deficit of 104.2 trillion won. The consolidated fiscal balance without social security fund topping 100 trillion won marked the second consecutive year after 2024.
The consolidated fiscal balance without social security fund stood at a deficit of 3.9% of GDP. Compared with the year before last (-4.1%) and the ratio planned when this year's budget was drafted (-4.2%), the deficit narrowed. A ministry official said revenue increased on higher tax receipts, and noted that while expenditure rose due to support for household recovery, the switch from direct loan programs for dwellings purchases and jeonse deposits to bank interest subsidies reduced fund expenditure, improving the consolidated fiscal balance without social security fund.
However, last year's consolidated fiscal balance without social security fund ratio (-3.9%) was the fourth largest deficit on record, after ▲2020 -5.4% ▲2022 -5% ▲2024 -4.1%. The size of the consolidated fiscal balance without social security fund itself was also the fourth largest, after ▲2022 -117 trillion won ▲2020 -112 trillion won ▲2024 -104.8 trillion won.
The previous administration's "fiscal rule" principle of limiting the fiscal deficit to within 3% of GDP could not be upheld for the sixth straight year. The principle has effectively been "scrapped" under the Lee Jae-myung administration. The government said the "3% rule" was set too rigidly and could be run countercyclically in situations like a Middle East war, and added that it is reviewing a new fiscal rule framework that targets and manages a medium- to long-term direction instead.
◇ Government debt ratio rises… national assets increase on National Pension gains
Government debt, combining central and local government debt, was 1,304.5 trillion won. That was up 129.4 trillion won from a year earlier.
The ratio of government debt to GDP was 49%, higher than the year before last (46%). The government debt ratio, which had kept rising from 2018 to 2023, fell in 2024 (46.9→46%), then turned upward again last year to a record high. The ratio is expected to surpass 50% this year.
However, the government said the ratio of government debt to GDP fell from the main budget (49.1%) before last year's supplementary budget was drawn up, and assessed that fiscal space to manage debt increased.
National assets totaled 3,584 trillion won, up 365.6 trillion won (11.4%) from the 2024 settlement of account. As the National Pension, which accounts for one-third of national assets, posted a record-high fund investment return of 18.8% last year, financial assets such as stocks and bonds held by the government increased. The National Pension's fund investment return accounted for about two-thirds of the annual increase in national assets.
National liabilities were tallied at 2,771.6 trillion won, up 185.9 trillion won (7.2%) from a year earlier. National liabilities, which include estimates of "contingent liabilities" whose payment timing and amounts are not fixed, such as pensions, are distinct from government debt. National net worth, which deducts liabilities from assets, was 812.4 trillion won, up 179.7 trillion won from a year earlier.