Chiefs of the nation’s loss-generating public agencies raked in performance-based benefits worth about 3 billion won ($2.7 million) in total last year.

According to financial info provider Alio, CEOs of 104 state-funded agencies that failed to log a net profit in 2012 received a combined 2.98 billion won in bonuses.

The state-run companies that posted net losses or reaped zero net profit included Korea Finance Corp., Korea Deposit Insurance Corp., Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, Korea Electric Power Corp. and Korea Broadcast Advertising Corp., according to the data.

Korea Finance Corp.’s CEO received the largest amount of 325 million won in bonuses, which took up about 65 percent of his annual salary of 510 million won. The agency suffered a net loss of 204.5 billion won last year.

The extra benefits consist of 1.8 billion won paid based on the government-set performance evaluation standards and 1.2 billion won granted in accordance with their own evaluation systems, the data showed.

The heads of the 104 agencies received a combined 13.8 billion won in annual salaries, including such benefits. The bonuses accounted for 21.7 percent of their total income.

Performance-based benefits are calculated and granted based on volume of work and achievements made by individual workers.

A government official said that it was sometimes inevitable for state-funded companies to sustain losses as they spearheaded large-scale government projects or provided basic public services.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)