The Korea Herald

피터빈트

Household debt jumps 11% in Q2

By 임정요

Published : Aug. 25, 2016 - 13:34

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South Korea's household debt jumped 11 percent from a year earlier in the second quarter despite stricter lending rules, its central bank said Thursday.

The country's overall household debt climbed to 1,257.3 trillion won ($1.122 billion) in the April-June period from 1,131.5 trillion won from the same period last year, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.


Quarter-on-quarter, household debt, which includes credit-card spending, rose 2.7 percent, it said.

Lower rates have pushed up the country's household loans in recent years. The country's key policy rate stands at an all-time low of 1.25 percent.

The government has toughened lending rules for loans as part of its pre-emptive efforts to contain ballooning household debt, which economists fear could dampen consumer spending amid slumping exports. (Yonhap)