SEOUL, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Household loan extended by South Korean banks kept growing last month on the near-record-low policy rate, the country's central bank data showed Wednesday.
Outstanding bank loan to households amounted to 843.6 trillion won (813 billion U.S. dollars) as of the end of May, up 5 trillion won (4.2 billion U.S. dollars) from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It was up from a 4.5 trillion-won (3.8 billion U.S. dollars) growth in the previous month, but it was lower than a 5.4 trillion-won (4.6 billion U.S. dollars) increase in the same month of last year.
The continued growth came amid the near-record-low policy rate, which was raised to the current 1.75 percent last November. The BOK hiked the policy rate to 1.50 percent from an all-time low of 1.25 percent in November 2017.
Bank mortgage loan to households rose 2.8 trillion won (2.4 billion U.S. dollars) during the month, nearly unchanged from a year earlier.
Credit loan to households advanced 2.2 trillion won (1.9 billion U.S. dollars) in May from a month earlier. It was up from an increase of 800 billion won (680 million U.S. dollars) in the previous month.
Meanwhile, bank corporate loan gained 6 trillion won (5.1 billion U.S. dollars) over the month to 849.8 trillion won (718.5 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of May.