South Korea reports third straight annual budget surplus in 2017

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea reported a budget surplus for a third straight year in 2017 after a rise in corporate tax payments boosted government revenue, official figures showed on Friday.

Gross revenue for 2017 was 359.5 trillion won ($328.79 billion), while expenditures amounted to 342.9 trillion won, resulting in a surplus of 16.2 trillion won, the finance ministry said in a statement.

It said that 4.9 trillion won would be used in 2018, resulting in an 11.3 trillion won surplus.

The government collected more taxes than expected because corporate income surged on improving exports, the ministry noted.

Revenue from corporate income tax was up 7.1 trillion won in 2017 while the value-added tax take rose 5.3 trillion won.

 

($1 = 1,093.4000 won)

(Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Editing by Eric Meijer)