Debts of Local Self-Governing Bodies Reached 21 Percent of Their Budgets

As of the end of June, the total debt of the nation`s local governments amounted to 18 trillion 475.4 billion won, 20.8 percent of their budgets.

According to the data that the Ministry Government Administration and Home Affairs presented to Rep. Shim Jae-Cheol (Grand National Party) belonging to the committee of budget and accounts of the National Assembly yesterday, the debt-to-budget ratio of the local governments as follows; △ Daegu 63.8 percent (1 trillion 774.3 billion won), △ Pusan 58.3 percent (2 trillion 399.8 billion won), △ Kwangju 51.5 percent (941.6 billion won), △ Ulsan 48.6 percent (473.9 billion won), and △ Daejeon 43.7 percent (802.5 billion won).

And Kyonggi Province marked the largest debt scale, 2 trillion 807.8 billion won, followed by Seoul (1 trillion 840.1 billion won). The debt redemption ratio totaled as follows; △ Daegu 25.3 percent, △ Pusan 22 percent, △ Kwangju 19.7 percent, △ Kyungbuk 15.5 percent, and △ Ulsan 12.9 percent.

Among the small local self-governing bodies, Kimhae city of Kyungnam province marked the highest debt ratio 58.6 percent (324.6 billion won), and Seocheon-Gun of Chungnam province recorded the highest debt redemption ratio (17.9 percent). In particular, for Seocheon-Gun, the debt redemption ration was almost the same as its financial independence ratio (18.1 percent), which means that it has used the whole local tax income for the payment of debt.

jnghn@donga.com