South Korea ranked seventh in its corporate debt to gross domestic product ratio among 15 member countries of the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation, data showed Monday, Yonhap reported. Without including pension debt, Korea’s corporate debt to GDP ratio in 2014 was 105%. The country with the highest ranking was Ireland with 189%, followed by Sweden with 165% and Belgium with 136%. Japan’s corporate debt to GDP was 101%, slightly lower than Korea’s. South Korea’s ratio has increased by 45 percentage points since the global economic crisis hit in 2007. The Bank of Korea estimated the country’s total corporate debt in 2014 would be around 1,493 trillion won ($1,373.5b), an 18.1% increase from 2011. Meanwhile, SK C&C, an ICT solutions developer, said Monday it would merge with SK Holdings, the holding entity of SK Group, to resolve the conglomerate’s complicated organizational structure and gain momentum in the ICT sector.
