SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's fiscal deficit through August narrowed to its lowest in eight years, boosted by a surge in corporate tax revenue from semiconductor giants, government data showed Thursday.
The consolidated fiscal balance, or gross revenue minus gross expenditure, posted a surplus of 5.0 trillion won (3.7 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-August period, turning black from a deficit of 53.7 trillion won in the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Budget.
The managed fiscal balance, which excludes social security funds to offer a more precise picture of the fiscal health, logged a deficit of 43.0 trillion won in the first eight months of 2026, marking the lowest deficit for the period since 2018.
Gross revenue, including tax and non-tax revenues, jumped 98.0 trillion won from a year earlier to 529.7 trillion won in the eight-month period.
Tax revenue surged 69.1 trillion won to 329.9 trillion won amid skyrocketing corporate tax collections, caused by an unprecedented artificial intelligence (AI) boom leading to soaring global demand for locally-made memory chips.
Corporate tax collections expanded by 28.2 trillion won, and those for income tax and value-added tax (VAT) climbed by 14.4 trillion won and 7.4 trillion won each.
Securities transaction tax mounted by 7.0 trillion won on the back of higher stock trading volume.
Gross expenditure through August reached 524.7 trillion won, up 39.3 trillion won from a year earlier.
As a result of the cumulative fiscal spending, the central government debt stood at 1,372.1 trillion won at the end of August, up 17.9 trillion won compared to the previous month. ■
