Tax revenue up $2.8 bn in the first two months of 2024

[Graphics by Song Ji-yoon]

South Korea saw its tax revenue increase by 3.8 trillion won ($2.79 billion) in the first two months of 2024 from the same period a year ago, resulting in a managed fiscal deficit of 36.2 trillion won.

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Thursday, the country’s national tax revenue totaled 58 trillion won at the end of February 2024, up 3.8 trillion won from a year ago.

Income tax fell by 300 billion won, while corporate tax and value-added tax rose by 100 billion won and 3.7 trillion won respectively. Non-tax revenue remained unchanged at 5.5 trillion won, while fund income totaled 33.7 trillion won, up 3.4 trillion won from the same period a year earlier due to an increase in insurance premiums.

As a result, the government’s total revenue stood at 97.2 trillion won, an increase of 7.2 trillion won from a year ago, with a collection rate of 15.9 percent. Total expenditure in the January to February 2024 period increased by 12.5 trillion won year-on-year to 127.1 trillion won due to factors such as expedited spending. The consolidated fiscal balance, which subtracts total expenditures from total revenue, recorded a deficit of 29.9 trillion won.

The management fiscal balance, which shows the government‘s actual fiscal position by subtracting the government expenditure on the country’s four main social security programs from the consolidated fiscal balance, came to a deficit of 36.2 trillion won, up 5.3 trillion won from a year ago. This excludes a 6.3 trillion won surplus in the social security fund balance.

Central government debt totaled 1,120.4 trillion won at the end of February 2024, while government bond issuance amounted to 18.4 trillion won in March, with a net outflow of 5.1 trillion won in foreign investment in government bonds.