SEOUL, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's industrial loans grew steadily in the second quarter on the back of strong demand from the service sector, central bank data showed Monday.
Debts owed by all industries to the deposit-taking financial institutions totaled 2,065.3 trillion won (1.53 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of June, up 30.6 trillion won from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea.
While the quarterly growth slightly slowed down from an increase of 30.8 trillion won in the January-March quarter, the overall expansion of industrial loans continued to pick up steam.
The trend was largely influenced by banks aggressively expanding corporate lending to align with the government's policy to support productive finance.
Loans to the service industry rose to 1,313.1 trillion won in the second quarter, marking the steepest increase since the fourth quarter of 2022.
It was driven by the real estate sector, the loans to which jumped 6.2 trillion won on the expanded guarantee limits for real estate project financing.
Loans to the finance and insurance sector soared 6.2 trillion won due to the raised margin requirements in the derivatives market.
Loans to manufacturers swelled 8.4 trillion won to 521.5 trillion won in the second quarter, cooling down from the growth of 11.0 trillion won in the first quarter.
The slowdown was attributable to corporate efforts to manage their financial ratios ahead of the half-year closing, alongside early debt repayments by some manufacturers.
Lending to construction companies was almost unchanged in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter.
Industrial lending for operating funds expanded 23.8 trillion won, while lending for facilities' funds increased 6.9 trillion won in the cited quarter. ■