SEOUL, Dec. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — An interest rate rise in South Korea will increase the debt repayment burdens of vulnerable households who over-extended themselves on mortgages during the low rate period, the central bank said Thursday. “In general, household and corporate borrowers will be able to afford an increase in debt repayment incurred by [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 14 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s top economic policymaker on Thursday expressed concerns that ballooning household debt may narrow room for policy maneuvering in Asia’s fourth-largest economy when interest rates rise, while downplaying the chance of high household debt posing a threat to the overall economy. “The risk of massive household debt will [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — The Bank of Korea submitted a report to the Strategy and Finance Committee of the National Assembly today in which it predicted that this year’s economic growth would fall short of 3 percent despite the improving global economy and supplementary revisions made to the national budget. The central bank [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 28 (Korea Bizwire) – Corporate lending extended by South Korea’s nonbank financial institutions surged nearly 17 percent in the first half of the year amid tougher rules for household loans, central bank data showed Monday. Outstanding corporate loans by local secondary financial institutions, including credit cooperatives and savings banks, came to 113.4 trillion [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — High household debt and a possible capital flight following expected U.S. rate hikes pose major risks to South Korea this year, a local think tank said Monday. In a seminar held by the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI) in Seoul, KERI Vice President Song Won-geun said faced with downside [...]
SEOUL, May 30 (Korea Bizwire) – The financial regulator said Tuesday it will apply tighter rules for mortgage loans to all mutual savings institutions starting next month, in the latest step to control fast-growing household debt. The tighter rules, which already have been applied to retail banks and other depository institutions, require borrowers to repay [...]
SEOUL, May 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s interest rate freeze is seen as reflecting its improving economic fundamentals and the central bank’s stance to size up the effect of the new government’s economic policy on growth. As widely expected, the Bank of Korea (BOK) held the country’s benchmark interest rate at a record low [...]
SEOUL, April 3 (Korea Bizwire) – The Korea Institute of Finance suggested Sunday that drastically reducing household debt could shrink consumption, raising a dilemma for those crafting South Korean economic policy to combat the struggle to cope with soaring debt and waning domestic consumption. According to researcher Park Choon-sung in his report on household debt [...]
SEJONG, Dec. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean household debt rose in 2016 from a year earlier as people borrowed money from banks and other financial companies to buy homes, and invest in real estate and businesses, government data showed Tuesday. The average household debt was tallied at 66.55 million won (US$56,000) as of end-March [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — The ratio of South Korean savings banks’ loans extended to households hit a record amid shrinking corporate investment, data showed Sunday. Their outstanding loans totaled 41.1 trillion won (US$34.9 billion) as of end-September, up 15.77 percent from the end of last year, according to the Bank of Korea’s economic [...]