As of end-March, South Korea's household debt came to 97.9 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), the highest among 39 countries reviewed by the U.S.-based Institute of International Finance (IIF).
The government, on the other hand, fared better than most others, with its overall debt coming to 41.4 percent of GDP, up 2 percentage points from three months earlier. Trading Economics members can view, download and compare data from nearly 200 countries, including more than 20 million economic indicators, exchange rates, government bond yields, stock indexes and commodity prices. Amid a pandemic-caused slump, South Korean firms increased their outstanding borrowing at an alarming rate. All Rights Reserved. South Korea's household debt also grew at one of the highest rates, adding 5.8 percentage points from three months earlier in the first quarter, according to the IIF report.
South Korea: Household debt to GDP, in percent: For that indicator, we provide data for South Korea from 1962 to 2018.
Other nations with high debt-to-GDP ratios include: Cape Verde: 123.4% Such a sharp increase, at least for South Korea, was apparently triggered by its economy reeling from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of end-March, outstanding debt owed by nonfinancial businesses here came to 104.6 percent of the country's GDP, up 7.4 percentage points from three months earlier, according to the IIF report. The debt ratio marks the 28th highest among the 39 countries, and the rate of increase the 23rd highest.Copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency.
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For comparison, the world average in 2018 based on 43 countries is 57.07 percent.
Private Debt To GDP in South Korea increased to 260.80 percent in 2018 from 253.30 percent in 2017.
The Bank of Korea earlier said the country's household debt grew at the slowest rate in one year in the first quarter, adding only 11 trillion won (US$9.1 billion) from three months earlier to 1,611.3 trillion won as of end-March.
Its GDP, on the other hand, is estimated to have shrunk 1.3 percent from three months earlier in the January-March period, marking the biggest on-quarter contraction in over a decade, according to the BOK.
South Korea was followed by Britain with 84.4 percent, Hong Kong at 82.5 percent and the United States at 75.6 percent.