Interest Income Down 114.8 Billion Won Due to Early Budget Execution Last Year

Interest income decreased by 114.8 billion won as Gyeonggi Province, Gyeonggi Province Office of Education, and 31 local governments executed their budgets early last year.

Rep. Lee Jae-jun (Democratic Party, Goyang District 2) of the Gyeonggi Province Council announced on the 6th: “Based on an analysis of interest rates on budgets from Gyeonggi Province, the Province Office of Education, and each local government last year, while total budget increased by 3.353 trillion 85 billion won, interest income actually decreased by 114.8 billion won.”

In fact, Gyeonggi Province's total budget increased from 37 trillion 86.896 billion won in 2008 to 40 trillion 439.981 billion won in 2009, an increase of 3 trillion 353.085 billion won.

However, interest income decreased from 345.668 billion won to 230.798 billion won during the same period, a decline of 114.87 billion won.

Converted to the 2008 interest rate, this represents a reduction of approximately 145.2 billion won.

Rep. Lee particularly pointed out: “Over the past three years, Gyeonggi Province's interest rate was 0.0077 in 2007, 0.0093 in 2008, and 0.0057 in 2009, declining by approximately 40 percent only last year.”

The top five local governments by interest rate are Uiwang City (0.018), Osan City (0.017), Hanam City (0.016), Icheon City (0.016), Yangpyeong County (0.016), while the bottom five are Gyeonggi Province (0.004), Gyeonggi Province Office of Education (0.006), Hwaseong City (0.006), Paju City (0.007), and Ansan City (0.007).

Rep. Lee argued: “Fiscal soundness is a serious concern. It is only natural to pay attention to every single won of non-tax revenue and secure available resources. Going forward, metropolitan governments must conduct comprehensive inspections of local government treasury contracts and operations to establish efficient treasury management measures.”