Q3 corporate loans expand at fastest pace in 10 yrs

SEOUL, Nov. 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's corporate loans expanded at the fastest pace in 10 years in the third quarter of 2018 on increased borrowing from the manufacturing and service sectors, central bank data showed Thursday.

Outstanding loans given out to local companies by financial institutions came to 1,107 trillion won (US$985.2 billion) as of the end of September, up 24.3 trillion won from three months earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The on-quarter gains accelerated from a 12.9 trillion-won increase tallied in the April-June period and marked the largest growth since the third quarter of 2008.

By industrial sector, loans to manufacturing firms increased 4.7 trillion won on-quarter to 347 trillion won as of end-September, widening from a 500 million-won increase in the second quarter.

Borrowing from carmakers rose 300 million won to 32.8 trillion won in the third quarter, turning around from an 800 million-won decrease in loans three months earlier.

Total borrowing by the service sector expanded a record 18 trillion won to 659.7 trillion won, with lending to the real estate sector gaining 8.9 trillion won to 224.9 trillion won.

And that to the wholesale, hotel and restaurant businesses climbed 5.5 trillion won to 196.3 trillion won in the period from July through September.

Loans to construction companies reached 41.1 trillion won as of end-September, up 800 million won from a quarter earlier.

brk@yna.co.kr
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