SEOUL, April 24 (Xinhua) -- South Korean banks' loan delinquency ratio rose for the second consecutive month due to more new delinquent loan than bad loan settlement, financial watchdog data showed Wednesday.
Bank loan overdue at least one month stood at 0.51 percent of the total at the end of February, up 0.06 percentage points from a month earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.
New delinquent loan amounted to 2.9 trillion won (2.1 billion U.S. dollars) in the month, higher than the settlement of non-performing loans worth 1.3 trillion won (943.4 million dollars).
The delinquency ratio has roughly been on the rise after hitting a bottom at 0.20 percent in June 2022 on the back of the high policy rate.
The central bank had left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.50 percent since January 2023, after hiking it by 3.0 percentage points for the past one and a half years.
Excluding the settled bad loan, the delinquency ratio for new bank loan came to 0.13 percent in February, unchanged compared to the previous month.
The delinquency ratio for bank corporate loan increased 0.09 percentage points from a month earlier to 0.59 percent at the end of February, while the ratio for household loan added 0.04 percentage points to 0.42 percent. ■
