Gyeonggi Province to issue 246.2 billion won in local bonds again next year... Accumulated over 3 years, close to 2 trillion won

Gyeonggi Province, which is experiencing severe financial difficulties, has decided to use local bonds and funds to raise insufficient financial resources next year.

According to next year's main budget plan submitted by Gyeonggi Province to the Provincial Council on the 13th, it was decided to issue 246.2 billion won in local bonds and raise 510 billion won in funds to make up for the shortfall in tax revenue.

Previously, Gyeonggi Province issued a total of 1.661 trillion won in local bonds, including 943 billion won in 2025 and 718 billion won this year.

If an additional 246.2 billion won is issued next year, the cumulative amount of local bonds issued over three years will reach 1.9072 trillion won.

In addition to the principal, the interest on local bonds issued last year and this year is 250.7 billion won, so the total principal and interest to be repaid in the future will well exceed 2 trillion won.

Local bonds are usually subject to two-year grace period installments or lump sum repayment, and the principal and interest to be repaid in 2027 amounts to 300 billion won and in 2028 reaches 400 billion won.

In addition to local bonds, the 510 billion won in fund borrowing includes 410 billion won from the Integrated Financial Stabilization Fund and 100 billion won from the Regional Development Fund.

Fund borrowing is an internal transaction and does not bring in external funds like local bonds, but if funds that should be prepared for future crises are used up for projects that do not fit the purpose, it can ultimately become a factor in financial deterioration.

The cumulative amount of fund borrowing as of this year is 5.1798 trillion won, and 510 billion won will be added next year.

Accordingly, the amount of local bonds and fund principal and interest (debt) that Gyeonggi Province must repay from next year is estimated to increase from 7.415 trillion won to around 8 trillion won.

An official from Gyeonggi-do said, "Available resources have decreased by 2.4095 trillion won, from 4.0595 trillion won this year to 1.65 trillion won next year. In this situation, in order to protect the people's livelihood budget as much as possible, we have decided to make the best use of local bonds that can be issued and to utilize additional funds."

Gyeonggi Province has allocated a total of KRW 3.0494 trillion in available resources in next year's main budget, but secured additional available resources in a way that does not reflect legal expenses such as the regional coexistence development fund (KRW 400 billion) and three months' worth of labor costs for public officials (KRW 90 billion).

Gyeonggi Province plans to cooperate with the government and the National Assembly to make every effort to expand national support and secure additional financial resources, and to supplement essential budgets such as statutory expenses that are not reflected through additional budgets in the future.