South Korea’s fiscal deficit widened during the first quarter from a year earlier as the government frontloaded its spending to help boost the economic recovery, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.

The consolidated fiscal account, which reflects the central government’s total income and expenditures, including social security funds, came to a cumulative 17.5 trillion won ($17.1 billion) during the January-March period, compared with 14.8 trillion won a year earlier, according to the ministry.

“Expenditures usually exceed gross income during the first quarter due to low tax income ratios and the government’s budget frontloading,” the ministry said.

The ministry also said that the government collected 48.8 trillion won in taxes during the third quarter, up 1.7 trillion won from a year earlier. Income taxes grew 1.5 trillion won, while corporate and value-added taxes expanded 200 billion won and 600 billion won, respectively.

The debt owed by the central government totaled 474.9 trillion won as of end-March, up 10.9 trillion won from what was tallied at the end of last year, according to the ministry. (Yonhap)