SEOUL, June 18 (Xinhua) -- South Korean banks' loan delinquency ratio rose in April owing to more new delinquent loan than bad loan settlement, financial watchdog data showed Thursday.
The ratio of bank loans, at least one month overdue, to the total added 0.05 percentage points from a month earlier to 0.61 percent at the end of April, after going down 0.06 percentage points in the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
New delinquent loans reached 2.9 trillion won (1.9 billion U.S. dollars) in the cited month, larger than the settlement of non-performing loans worth 1.6 trillion won (1.1 billion dollars).
Excluding the settled bad loans, the delinquency ratio for new bank loans was 0.12 percent in April, slightly up from 0.11 percent in the previous month.
The delinquency ratio for bank corporate loans climbed 0.06 percentage points from a month earlier to 0.74 percent at the end of April, while the ratio for household loans gained 0.02 percentage points to 0.42 percent. ■
