Asian Tech Press (Aug 9) -- Hyundai Motor Group and its subsidiary Kia Corp contributed a whopping 164.0057 trillion won (124.2 billion) to South Korea's economy last year, surpassing Samsung Electronics.

CEO Score, a Seoul-based business data tracker, released a report Wednesday showcasing the economic contributions to the country by the top 100 companies among South Korea's top 500 companies that disclosed such indicators.

The report showed that the economic contribution of South Korea's top 100 companies amounted to 1,472.7942 trillion won last year, up 20.7% from a year earlier.

During the same period, the total sales of the top 100 companies stood at 1,994.4791 trillion won, up 20.9% year-on-year.

Economic contribution refers to the total economic value generated by a company's operations, including taxes paid, supplier sales and shareholder dividends.

In terms of individual companies, Samsung Electronics has the highest economic contribution in 2022 at 148.109 trillion won, followed by Hyundai Motor (95.1848 trillion won), Kia (68.8209 trillion won), LG Electronics (66.8564 trillion won), and GS Caltex (54.2675 trillion won).

Notably, Hyundai Motor and Kia's total economic contribution was more than that of Samsung Electronics last year.

In 2021, Hyundai Motor and Kia contributed 138.0892 trillion won to South Korea's economy, or 88.9% of Samsung Electronics, but their total economic contribution reached 164.0057 trillion won last year, or 15.8967 trillion won more than Samsung Electronics.

CEO Score said in its report that Samsung Electronics was no match for Hyundai Motor and Kia because of its significant reduction in corporate tax payments.

Samsung Electronics paid 9.2136 trillion won in income tax in South Korea last year, down more than 31% from 13.4443 trillion won in 2021.

(US$1 = 1320.425 won)