The net surplus fund, or the value of financial assets minus financial debts possessed by households and non-profit organizations, stood at 26.5 trillion won (20.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the July-September quarter last year, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The surplus fund diminish from 76.9 trillion won (58.7 billion dollars) in the first quarter to 28.6 trillion won (21.8 billion dollars) in the second quarter.
The eased lending regulations boosted demand for home purchase, leading to lower surplus fund, the BOK said.
Financial assets, such as deposits and securities, came in at 43.5 trillion won (33.2 billion dollars) in the third quarter, down from 44.4 trillion won (33.9 billion dollars) in the previous quarter.
During the third quarter, the deposit and bond holdings lost 6.9 trillion won (5.3 billion dollars) and 5.8 trillion won (4.4 billion dollars) each, while the holdings of equity securities and investment fund expanded 10.2 trillion won (7.8 billion dollars).
Financial liabilities totaled 17 trillion won (13 billion dollars) in the third quarter of last year, up 1.2 trillion won (916 million dollars) compared to the previous quarter.
The financial debts increased despite higher borrowing costs.
The BOK has left its policy rate unchanged at 3.50 percent since January last year, after raising it by 3.0 percentage points for the past one and a half years.
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