Gyeonggi Province Responds to Interior Ministry Announcement…Claims Actual Debt of 1.51 Trillion Won

Gyeonggi Province has issued a clarification regarding the provincial debt status of 17 metropolitan local governments announced by the Ministry of Interior and Safety on the 22nd.

On the 23rd, through an emergency briefing by spokesperson Jeong Taek-jin, the province stated that Gyeonggi Province's financial health is sound with a debt-to-budget ratio of approximately 10%, and argued that the Ministry of Interior and Safety's total debt accounting, which includes loans to individual cities and counties, is unreasonable.

Furthermore, Gyeonggi Province highlighted that the provincial population of 12 million is the highest in the nation, and with a fiscal budget size of 15.57 trillion won—the second largest nationwide—a minimum level of debt for broad-based administrative demands such as SOC projects is inevitable.

Spokesperson Jeong Taek-jin stated, "The provincial debt balance of 3.40 trillion won compiled by the Ministry of Interior and Safety includes loans from municipal and county regional development funds, resulting in double-counting, which the ministry has acknowledged."

Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province's actual debt balance is 1.51 trillion won, ranking fifth among metropolitan local governments. The debt rankings are led by Seoul with 2.97 trillion won, followed by Busan with 2.91 trillion won, and Incheon with 2.80 trillion won.