South Korea is expected to pay around 21 trillion won ($18.7 billion) in interest on its debt this year amid increased borrowing by the government to tide over the global economic crisis, data showed Monday.

According to the data provided by the finance ministry to the National Assembly, interest payment on the nation’s debt will amount to some 21.5 trillion won this year, compared with last year’s 18.9 trillion won.

Interest payment on the debt already reached 9.6 trillion won in the first seven months of the year, data showed.

The increase is attributed to a hike in government borrowing, which will amount to some 446 trillion won this year, a 47.5 percent hike from 2008 when the global financial crisis hit the nation, data showed.

National debt has increased sharply in recent years as the government implemented a range of stimulus measures mostly funded by issuing bonds in a bid to kick-start the economy in the face of the global downturn.

The ministry also estimated that interest payment debts owed by provincial governments at 546 billion won this year.

The South Korean government has increased its debt sales since 2008 to fund large-scale government projects and stimulus measures.

Its bond sale reached 16.5 trillion won last year. Its debt sale amounted to a record 35 trillion won in 2009, according to the ministry. (Yonhap News)