The South Korean government's debt reached 47-point-two percent of gross domestic product(GDP) in the first quarter, marking a new record high.

The Bank for International Settlements(BIS) said Wednesday that the nation's debt-to-GDP ratio had broken 47 percent for the first time in the 35 years since it began compiling related statistics in 1990.

Unlike the International Monetary Fund or the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the BIS excludes public institutions and nonfinancial state-owned enterprises, capturing only narrowly defined national liabilities.

Under this standard, the nation's debt-to-GDP ratio first exceeded 40 percent in the first quarter of 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and has been steadily rising since.