(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Oul june 26 (qna) - bank lending rates in south korea again fell to the lowest level in may from the previous month as interest rates continued to stay low in asia's fourth-largest economy central bank data showed thursday.
the average rate of new loans to households and firms stood at 4.40% last month down 0.02 percentage point from the previous month according to the bank of korea (bok).
the may figure marks the lowest level since the central bank began compiling related data in 1996 according to south korea's (yonhap) news agency.
the bok explained that an increase in lendings to stable companies and efforts to promote hybrid mortgage-backed loans drove down the average rate.
the average rate of corporate loans reached 4.5% last month inching down 0.01 percentage point from the previous month. the corresponding rate for household lending slipped 0.02 percentage point to 4.02%.
the average deposit rate also dipped 0.01 percentage point to 2.59% according to the data.
the monthly data also showed that banks' profitability from lending slightly fell in may. the loan-deposit spread fell 0.01 percentage point to 1.81%.
the data comes as the central bank is standing pat on the benchmark seven-day repo rate. in june the bok's monetary policy committee unanimously voted to freeze the rate at 2.5% for the 13th straight month.
cofix which is used as the benchmark lending rate for mortgage loans has also been falling amid the low-interest trend. in may it fell to a record low of 2.58%. (qna)
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.