Loans extended by financial institutions, including banks, savings banks and credit unions, to industrial companies, the self-employed and the public institutions reached 1,140.9 trillion won (956 billion U.S. dollars) as of end-March, up 19.6 trillion won (16.4 billion U.S. dollars) from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It was bigger than an expansion of 14.3 trillion won (12 billion U.S. dollars) tallied in the fourth quarter of last year.
The lending to manufacturers advanced 6.5 trillion won (5.4 billion U.S. dollars) to 351.2 trillion won (294 billion U.S. dollars) during the first quarter, marking the biggest increase since the third quarter of 2015.
The figure for services companies gained 9.9 trillion won (8.3 billion U.S. dollars) to 686.9 trillion won (575.3 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter, but it was lower than a growth of 17.3 trillion won in the previous quarter.
Lending for facility funds, such as money for facility investment, expanded 7.8 trillion won (6.5 billion U.S. dollars) during the January-March quarter.
The loans for operating costs, including labor and materials costs, climbed 11.8 trillion won (9.9 billion U.S. dollars) during the quarter.
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