[THE INVESTOR] The South Korean government will keep the ratio of national debt to gross domestic product at 45 percent or lower from next year to maintain sound fiscal status, the Finance Ministry here said Aug. 9.

It will also control the balance of government income and expenditures at a ratio of 3 percent or lower to the GDP.

The ministry said it has drawn up the new state budget management act in order to deal with the national finances more effectively in the face of low economic growth and an aging population.

“We’ve come up with the new guidelines to show our will to manage the national budget in a stricter way,” Vice Finance Minister Song Eon-seog told reporters at a briefing.

“We also set up the ceiling a little higher than the current level to give us more room to take aggressive fiscal intervention when the economic situation gets worse.”

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