SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- South Korean banks' loan delinquency ratio fell in three months due to more bad loan settlement than new delinquent loan, financial watchdog data showed Friday.
Bank loan, at least one month overdue, decreased 0.12 percentage points from a month earlier to 0.52 percent at the end of June after going up for the past two months, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
New delinquent loan came to 2.8 trillion won (2.0 billion U.S. dollars) in the cited month, lower than the settlement of non-performing loan worth 5.7 trillion won (4.1 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 uncertainties over massive household debt.
The country's central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points in February and May each to 2.50 percent after cutting it by the same basis points in October and November last year.
Excluding the settled bad loan, the delinquency ratio for fresh bank loan stood at 0.11 percent in June, lower than 0.14 percent in the previous month.
The delinquency ratio for bank corporate loan declined 0.17 percentage points from a month earlier to 0.60 percent at the end of June, while the ratio for household loan slipped 0.06 percentage points to 0.41 percent. ■