Public firms' 2008 earnings plunge 57 pct

SEOUL, April 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's 297 state-run companies reported a
57-percent decline in their combined net profit in 2008 mainly due to higher raw
material costs, worldwide financial turmoil and a protracted economic slump, data
showed Thursday.
According to the data provided by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the
firms' combined net profit amounted to 7.5 trillion won (US$5.6 billion) last
year, compared with 17.5 trillion won a year earlier.
Higher raw material prices, a weaker local currency and financial market
turbulence hit power generators hard. State-run power monopoly Korea Electric
Power Corp. posted losses of 3 trillion won, the data showed.
Their aggregate debt also grew 16.2 percent to 320.7 trillion won at the end of
last year, while combined assets stood at 532.2 trillion won, up 8.3 percent from
a year earlier, according to the data.
The data was unveiled as government efforts continue to reform loss-making public
firms, which frequently come under fire for foot-dragging on reforms and using
taxpayer money to compensate for losses.
Since August of last year, the ministry has unveiled six reform packages for the
public sector, mostly aimed at consolidating and privatizing state-run companies
and trimming the sector's overall workforce.
According to the latest data, average salaries of workers at the 297 public
companies amounted to 55 million won, up 3 percent from a year earlier.
Entry-level salaries were 27 million won, 1.5 percent higher than 2007.
A total of 262,000 people were employed in the public sector, up 3,600 or 1.4
percent from a year earlier, the data showed.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
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