2023-07-12 19:04:16
This undated file photo shows a person walking past a bank advertisement for home loans in Seoul.
SEOUL, July 12 (Yonhap) — Bank lending to households in South Korea rose for the third straight month in June on higher demand for home loans amid rising borrowing costs , as they showed, this Wednesday, data from the Bank of Korea (BOK, according to its acronym in English)
The value of credit to households reached 1,062.3 trillion won (822,000 million dollars) as of the end of June, an increase of 5.9 trillion won (4,571 million dollars), compared to the previous month, according to the data.
The June figure marks the third consecutive month with a month-on-month increase, following an increase of 4.2 trillion won ($3.254 million) in May, and 2.3 trillion won ($1.782 million) in April .
In the first half of the year, the value of loans granted by banks to households increased by 4.2 trillion won (3.254 billion US dollars), according to the data.
Mortgage loans increased by 7 trillion won ($5.424 million) in June to 814 trillion won ($630.763 million), while unsecured and other loans fell by 1.1 trillion won (852.3 million dollars), to 246.1 trillion won (190.623 million dollars), during the cited period.
Borrowing costs in Asia’s fourth-largest economy remain high, following the BOK’s aggressive tightening to tame rising inflation.
In May, the BOK kept its monetary policy rate (MPR) unchanged at 3.5 percent, marking the third consecutive month of a rate freeze, amid a prolonged slowdown in exports amid easing pressure. inflationary.
The rate freeze came after the BOK made seven consecutive MPR increases since April last year.
In 2022, outstanding domestic credit fell for the first time in 18 years, amid higher interest rates.
(FIN)
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