[앵커]
Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung recently appeared on a YouTube economic channel and said that Korean stocks do not pay dividends too much and that dividends should be increased.
It is proposed to increase dividends as a way to revitalize the stock market.
In fact, we examined whether domestic stock dividends are lower compared to other countries.
This is Fact Y, reporter Shin Ji-won.
[기자]
Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, recently appeared on an Internet economic broadcast.
The low dividend yield is cited as the cause of the sluggishness of the domestic stock market, failing to attract investors.
[이재명 / 더불어민주당 대선 후보 (지난 20일) : 우리나라는 기본적으로 배당이 너무 취약합니다. (짜죠. 인색해요.) 그러니까 투자를 안 하는 거예요. 아니 풀어봐야 뭐합니까. 배당 안 해주는데. 벌어봐야 뭐합니까. 회사에서 다 적립만 하는데.]
▶ Low domestic stock dividend?
A stock dividend is a distribution of a portion of the company’s profits to its shareholders.
It is usually expressed as an index called ‘dividend payout ratio’, which is the ratio of dividends to net income.
Until 2018, the ‘dividend payout ratio’ of the Korean stock market was significantly lower than that of China, Vietnam, and Russia as well as the US and Japan.
However, since 2019, it is increasing rapidly.
Last year, it rose to a whopping 63%.
Therefore, it is difficult to say that the Korean stock market is stingy in dividend payouts simply by looking at the indicator of ‘dividend payout ratio’.
▶ Statistical illusion?
In 2019, when the ‘dividend payout ratio’ suddenly soared, the company’s net profit was cut in half due to the US-China trade dispute and the semiconductor recession.
On the other hand, the cash dividend decreased only about 5%.
It is not that the ‘dividend payout ratio’ has increased because the company has increased its dividend, but rather the result of a steep decline in the company’s profit as the denominator, that is, it is a statistical illusion.
[김영익 / 서강대학교 경제대학원 교수 : (2019년에는) 미·중 무역갈등으로 우리나라 수출이 많이 감소했어요. 순이익이 줄어들었더라도 일정한 배당금을 주니까, 배당성향은 높아질 수가 있는 것이죠.]
Last year, Samsung Electronics’ large-scale special dividend acted as a major factor in the increase in its dividend payout ratio.
[김대준 / 한국투자증권 수석연구원 : 삼성전자만 보게 되면 2020년 같은 경우에는 배당을 많이 할 수 있는 여건이 됐어요. 배당은 남아있는 잉여현금으로 하거든요. 그런데 어쨌든 삼성도 앞으로 성장을 하기 위해서 투자를 할 것이고….]
Unlike overseas cases where companies grow sufficiently and return profits to shareholders, domestic companies tend to focus on raising funds for future investment.
This is YTN Shin Ji-won.
YTN Shin Jiwon (jiwonsh@ytn.co.kr)
[저작권자(c) YTN & YTN plus 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]
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