Corporate loan growth slightly accelerates in Q2

Corporate loan growth in South Korea slightly picked up in the second quarter from three months earlier, central bank data showed Wednesday, mainly due to a modest gain in loans for the service sector.

The outstanding loans extended to local companies came to 1,478.5 trillion won ($1.27 trillion) as of end-June, up 42.7 trillion won from three months earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

By industrial sector, loans to manufacturing firms rose 4.9 trillion won on-quarter to 404.8 trillion won as of the end of June.

Total loans in the service sector expanded 33.7 trillion won to 945.5 trillion won, compared with a growth of 31.1 trillion won in the first quarter.

Lending to property businesses increased 12.1 trillion won to reach a record 307.6 trillion won in the April-June period.

Loans to wholesale and retail companies reached 213.5 trillion won as of the end of June, up 8 trillion won from a quarter earlier. (Yonhap)