The average household debt in South Korea rose 2.3 percent over the past year, a report showed Friday, furthering concerns amid views the low-rate trend may worsen the country’s already-sizable household debt.

Korean households held an average of 59.94 million won ($54,441) in debt as of end-March, compared with 58.58 million won the previous year, according to the joint report by Statistics Korea, the Financial Supervisory Service and the Bank of Korea.

The figure includes financial debt as well as key money in the rental market.

While the size of debt per household rose, the report showed that the portion of indebted households slipped to 65.7 percent from 67 percent the previous year.

The capacity of households to repay debt slightly improved this year as financial debt against disposable income came in at 106.8 percent, down 2 percentage points from the previous year.

In the cited period, financial debt gained 3 percent while disposable income expanded 5 percent.

The report comes amid worries that the country’s heavy household debt, which hit 1,040 trillion won as of end-June, may be a potential destabilizing factor for the economy. (Yonhap)