South Korea’s national assets grew 5.7% in 2015

[THE INVESTOR] In 2015, South Korea’s total assets grew 5.7 percent from a year earlier, central bank data showed Tuesday.

As of the end of 2015, the country’s national assets came to 12,359.5 trillion won ($10.54 trillion), up 5.7 percent from a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.

The 2015 tally is almost eight times higher than the country’s nominal gross domestic product for the same year.

The increase, however, came mostly from a rise in nonfinancial assets, reflecting the preference of local people and companies for fixed assets, such as property, over volatile financial assets, the bank said.

The country’s total nonfinancial assets gained 4.6 percent to some 12,126.5 trillion won, accounting for 98.1 percent of total assets on the national balance sheet, according to the BOK.

Financial assets jumped 8.2 percent on-year in 2015, but the country’s net financial assets only came to 233 trillion won, as financial debts also spiked 7.2 percent.

Household debt grew at a record rate in 2015, as the central bank kept its policy interest rate at a record high of 1.5 percent.

(investor@heraldcorp.com)