S. Korea logs cumulative fiscal surplus until April

South Korea posted cumulative fiscal surplus in the first four months of this year thanks to less spending and more tax revenues amid a rebounding economy, a report showed Wednesday.

The "consolidated" fiscal surplus that also includes social welfare funds amounted to 700 billion won (US$578.5 million) during the January-April period, according to the report by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

This is a turnaround from a deficit of 8.2 trillion won tallied during the same period a year earlier.

The ministry explained that the surplus came mostly from scaled-back budget and more tax revenues than last year when the nation had to seek expanded fiscal spending and other stimuli in the face of the global slump.//Yonhap

AJP