Risk Rankings › South Korea
South Korea — Sovereign Credit Report
South Korea's government debt is 58.0% of GDP, interest payments take 5.3% of government revenue, and consumer prices are up 3.1% year over year.
Higher = riskier. Based on 6 of 7 components (95% of the full weight); missing components are left out and the rest re-weighted. How the score works.
What drives the score
| Component | Reading | Risk points (0–100) | Weight | Adds to score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debt-to-GDP | 58.0% of GDP (2025) | 13 | 26% | 3.4 |
| Interest-to-revenue | 5.3% of revenue (2024) | 21 | 26% | 5.5 |
| Credit rating (S&P) | AA | 14 | 16% | 2.3 |
| Inflation (CPI YoY, gap from 2%) | +3.14% YoY | 11 | 16% | 1.8 |
| Currency, 1-year vs USD | +5.5% vs USD | 13 | 11% | 1.4 |
| Debt trend (1-year change) | +1.4 pts of GDP | 43 | 5% | 2.3 |
| Foreign-held share of debt | Not available for South Korea — excluded | |||
The details
Debt
| Gross government debt | 58.0% of GDP |
| Data year | 2025 |
| Change vs. prior year | +1.4 pts |
| Interest / revenue | 5.3% (2024) |
| Foreign-held share | — |
Credit rating
| S&P long-term foreign-currency | AA |
| Notches below AAA | 2 |
| Investment grade? | Yes |
Ratings current as of 2026-08-10.
Inflation & money
| CPI, year over year | +3.14% |
| CPI, month over month | +0.46% |
| Broad money growth (YoY) | +6.55% |
| QTM implied inflation | +5.10%/yr |
QTM = money growth minus real GDP growth, the Hanke-Greenwood method, with a 12–24 month lag. Full table →
Currency
| KRW per US dollar | 1,338.78 |
| Latest day vs USD | +0.39% |
| 1 year vs USD | +5.5% |
+ means the KRW gained against the dollar. Rates as of 2026-10-06. All currencies →
Monetary policy
Policy-rate data isn't tracked for South Korea yet.
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Sources: OECD (gross general government debt, CPI); World Bank (interest payments % of revenue, broad money); Eurostat and US Treasury TIC (foreign-held debt); IMF (real GDP growth); ECB via Frankfurter (exchange rates); BIS, Federal Reserve, ECB, Bank of Canada and Bank of England (policy rates); S&P (credit ratings, entered manually). Data refreshed Oct 6, 2026. The Bankrupt Baby Risk Score is our own composite indicator, not a credit rating. Educational content only — not financial advice.