Corporate loans slightly increase in Q2

Loans extended by local lenders to businesses rose slightly at the end of June from three months earlier due to increased facility investments, central bank data showed Monday.

Outstanding loans extended to local companies by financial institutions came to 970.7 trillion won ($863 billion) as of end-June, up 11.6 trillion won or 1.2 percent from the previous quarter, according to data from the Bank of Korea.

It marked decline from a 1.7-percent on-quarter gain in the previous quarter. From a year earlier, the Q2 tally marked a 6.5-percent rise.

Fresh loans extended to companies for operation stood at 596 trillion won, unchanged from the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, local banks and other financial institutions extended 11.7 trillion won in fresh loans to local companies for facilities in the second quarter, compared with 7.8 trillion won in the previous quarter.

By industrial sector, loans to companies in the service sector spiked 9.3 percent on-year to 545 trillion won as of end-June, while loans extended to manufacturing firms came to 330.4 trillion won, up 3.7 percent from the same period last year.

Total borrowing by construction firms, on the other hand, slipped 3.5 percent on-year to 38.9 trillion won, the bank data showed. (Yonhap)