SEOUL, July 10 (Xinhua) -- The surplus fund, owned by South Korean households, rose in the first quarter amid the reduced home purchase, caused by the government's measures to control speculative investment in the real estate market, central bank data showed Wednesday.
Net fund management by households and nonprofit organizations, which measures the amount of extra fund held by households, reached 26.7 trillion won (22.6 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-March quarter, the highest since the first quarter of 2016, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It came as households refrained from buying new home with borrowed money following the government's measures to curb speculative investment in the property market.
Construction investment in the residential buildings, which gauge the housing purchase by households, declined to 23.5 trillion won (20 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter from 26.1 trillion won (22 billion U.S. dollars) a year ago.
The ratio of financial assets to financial debts, which measures the debt-servicing capability for households, gained to 2.12 in the first quarter from 2.08 from the previous quarter.
Surplus fund for the government stood at 600 billion won (508 million U.S. dollars) in the quarter. It was the lowest in four years as the government increased fiscal spending to bolster the slumping economy.
The country's real gross domestic product (GDP), adjusted for inflation, diminished 0.4 percent in the first quarter from three months earlier.
Meanwhile, non-financial companies recorded the net capital-raising of 15.8 trillion won (13.4 billion U.S. dollars) in the March quarter, marking the biggest first-quarter figure in eight years.
The large corporate financing was attributable to the worsened profitability amid the continued fall in export, which takes up about half of the export-driven economy. The export kept sliding for the seventh straight month through June.
