S.Korea's lending rate for households hits 9-month low

Source: Xinhua | 2018-10-31

South Korea's lending rate for households hit the lowest in nine months as the country's central bank refrained from altering the near-record-low policy rate, Bank of Korea (BOK) data showed Tuesday.

Rate for loans owed by households to banks averaged an annualized rate of 3.62 percent in September, down 0.04 percentage points from the previous month.

It was the lowest since December last year, keeping a downward trend for two straight months.

The decline came as the BOK refrained from raising its benchmark rate, which was left unchanged at 1.5 percent since November last year.

The U.S. Federal Reserve hiked its target rate in September to a range of 2.00-2.25 percent, widening a gap between policy rates of South Korea and the United States.

Rate for bank mortgage loans averaged 3.29 percent in September, down 0.07 percentage points from the previous month. It was the lowest since October last year.

The annualized average rate for credit loans to households declined 0.08 percentage points over the month to 4.39 percent in September.