The South Korean government has borrowed and repaid approximately 71 trillion won from the Bank of Korea between January and April this year to cover budget shortfalls. 

According to data submitted by the Bank of Korea to Rep. Yang Bu-nam who sits on the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee, the cumulative amount reached 70-point-seven trillion won, or around 50-point-seven billion U.S. dollars, by the end of April. 

This marks the largest such figure since data tracking began in 2011, surpassing last year’s record of 60 trillion won during the same period.

The figure is also nearly two-point-seven times the amount borrowed during the same period in 2020, when the government faced urgent expenses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the extensive borrowing, the government has repaid the bank the full 75-point-seven trillion won it owed, which includes five trillion won rolled over from last year.

A finance ministry official said the borrowing was a standard fiscal tool to address timing mismatches between revenue and spending, adding that the government stayed within its limits and that comparing cumulative borrowing figures is not appropriate.