The delinquency rate for South Korean banks’ won-denominated loans inched up in August due to a slight rise in the number of firms that failed to repay their debts, government data showed Oct. 29.
The rate for bank loans more than 30-days overdue stood at 0.5 percent at the end of August, up 0.05 percentage point from a month earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service.
Compared with a year ago, the rate was down 0.11 percentage point, it said.
The delinquency rate for loans extended to companies rose 0.06 percentage point on-month to 0.65 percent in August, with that for loans to households rising 0.03 percentage point on-month to 0.32 percent at the end of August, according to the data.
The FSS said it will keep a close tab on loan delinquency trends to prevent rising market interest rates from leading to more overdue loans.
By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ram@heraldcorp.com)