Korea's public spending: 17%, 23% or 35% of GDP?

For Korea the IMF's fiscal series covers central government and social-security funds on a cash basis but excludes local governments — a documented country-specific scope — printing 22.5%, while the OECD's national-accounts measure spans all levels of government on an accrual basis (35.1%) and the World Bank counts final consumption only (17.5%). Korea is the rare case where the IMF's number sits below the broadest measure: the scope note, not the spending, explains it.