S.Korea parliament rejects bill to let KEPCO raise more debt

Korea Electric Power

08/12/2022 08:58

SEOUL, Dec 8 (Reuters) - South Korea's parliament voted
down on Thursday a revision bill intended to sharply increase
the ceiling of bond issuance by state-run Korea Electric Power
Corp (KEPCO), which has been struggling under mounting losses.
    The draft bill would have allowed KEPCO to issue bonds worth
up to five times the sum of its equity capital and reserves,
compared with two times at present, as it has been hard-hit by
the surging costs of fuel it purchases to produce electricity.
    KEPCO posted a net loss of 16.65 trillion won ($12.63
billion) for the first nine months of this year, a huge increase
from a 1.58 trillion won loss for the comparable period of 2021
mostly due to soaring energy prices globally.
    President Yoon Suk-yeol's ruling party, which proposed the
revision bill, lacks a majority in parliament as it holds just
115 out of the 299 seats.
 ($1 = 1,318.4000 won)
 (Reporting by Choonsik Yoo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
 ((choonsik.yoo@thomsonreuters.com; +822 6936 1464;))