Seoul: The government has received a record amount of dividends from state-invested companies this year, the finance ministry said Thursday, led mostly by three major state-run banks.

According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korea received a total of 2.79 trillion won (US$1.85 billion) in dividends from public companies for fiscal 2025, compared with 2.29 trillion won tallied for the previous year. The Ministry of Finance and Economy reported that the average dividend payout ratio, which refers to total dividends relative to net profit, came to 40.9 percent, up 1.18 percentage points from a year earlier, meeting the target of 40 percent.

Among 40 government-invested institutions, 20 paid out dividends. Eleven others posted losses, while nine had to make up for losses from the previous year despite posting an operating profit. Korea Development Bank paid out dividends worth 880.6 billion won to the government, followed by Industrial Bank of Korea with 596.8 billion won and Export-Import Bank of Korea with 476.2 billion won. The three banks accounted for 69.9 percent of the total dividends received by the government, the ministry said.