S.Korea recoups 60.9 pct bailout funds in Jan.

SEOUL, March 2 (Xinhua) -- South Korea recouped 0.9 percent of bailout funds poured into local financial institutions in late 1997 when the Asian financial crisis happened, the financial watchdog said Friday.

The South Korean government collected 102.7 trillion won (92. 04 billion U.S. dollars) in public funds as of the end of January out of a total of 168.6 trillion won injected since November 1997 when the Asian crisis occurred, according the Financial Services Commission (FSC).

The recovery rate came in at 60.9 percent in late January, unchanged from the rate seen at the end of last year, the watchdog said.

Meanwhile, the country retrieved 16,801 billion won in public funds at the end of January out of the total 62,010 billion won used to bail out financial institutions following the 2008 global financial crisis.

The collection rate stood merely at 27.1 percent in late January, but the ratio will go higher from the second half of this year as the maturity date for most of loans falls in late 2012, the watchdog added.