SEOUL, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Bank lending rates in South Korea continued to rise for three straight months since the central bank raised its policy rate in November last year, Bank of Korea (BOK) data showed Wednesday.
Bank loan rates stood at an annualized rate of 3.69 percent in January, up 0.07 percentage points from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It was the highest in nearly three years.
The lending rate kept rising since the BOK raised its benchmark rate last November by a quarter percentage point to 1.5 percent, the first rate increase in almost six and a half years.
Rate for household loans rose 0.1 percentage points over the month to 3.71 percent in January, marking the highest since September 2014.
The figure for corporate loans gained 0.04 percentage points to 3.68 percent, the highest since May 2015.
Meanwhile, bank deposit rates fell 0.01 percentage point to an annualized rate of 1.80 percent in January as banks refrained from raising the savings rate despite the policy rate hike.
The gap between lending and savings rates widened to the highest since November 2014, according to the BOK.
