South Korea has borrowed nearly 70 trillion won (US$66.6 billion) worth of short-term money, including Treasury bills, over the past three years to make up for financial shortfalls in running government affairs, government data showed Thursday.

According to the data submitted by the finance ministry to the National Assembly, the government borrowed 68 trillion won worth of short-term money from 2012 to September this year. The money includes issuances of Treasury bills and borrowing money from the central bank.

When the government fails to secure enough tax revenue, it is allowed to issue Treasury bills and borrow money from the Bank of Korea. The short-term borrowing should be paid back by the year's end. 

In 2012, the government borrowed 19.2 trillion won worth of such short-term funds and the borrowing came to 28.5 trillion won last year. Up until September this year, the government has borrowed 20.5 trillion won.

For the borrowing, the government has paid more than 550 billion won in interest over the cited period, the data showed.

The massive borrowing is attributed to falling tax revenues caused by the slowing economic recovery. This year, tax revenue shortfalls are feared to reach around 10 trillion won. 

Another major reason is the government's continued efforts to frontload its budget in order to give a much-needed stimulus to the economy, which has resulted in a temporary fiscal mismatch. 

Almost every year since 2004, the government has frontloaded its annual budget. (Yonhap)