SEOUL, May 26 (Xinhua) -- South Korean banks' loan delinquency ratio fell in three months due to more bad loan settlements than new delinquent loans, financial watchdog data showed Tuesday.
The ratio of bank loans, at least one month overdue, to the total dived 0.06 percentage points from a month earlier to 0.56 percent at the end of March, after going up for the past two months, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.
New delinquent loans reached 2.7 trillion won (1.8 billion U.S. dollars) in the cited month, lower than the settlement of non-performing loans worth 4.3 trillion won (2.8 billion dollars).
The delinquency ratio has roughly been on the rise after hitting a bottom of 0.20 percent in June 2022 on the back of lingering uncertainty over massive household debt.
Excluding the settled bad loans, the new delinquency ratio for bank loans was 0.11 percent in March, slightly down from 0.12 percent in the previous month.
The delinquency ratio for bank corporate loans declined 0.08 percentage points from a month earlier to 0.68 percent at the end of March, while the ratio for household loans slipped 0.05 percentage points to 0.40 percent. ■
