SEOUL, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's corporate financing through the issuance of stocks and bonds grew in 2019 as corporate bond sale increased amid the low borrowing cost, financial watchdog data showed Tuesday.
Corporate financing, which includes the sale of stocks and bonds, amounted to 175.5 trillion won (149.2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2019, up 3.3 percent from the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
Equity financing, through the initial public offering and the rights issuance, tumbled 40.2 percent to 5.3 trillion won (4.5 billion U.S. dollars) on weak demand for the rights issuance.
Debt financing advanced 5.8 percent to 170.2 trillion won (144.7 billion U.S. dollars) last year amid the record-low interest rate.
The country's central bank cut its benchmark interest rate from 1.75 percent to 1.50 percent in July last year, before lowering it further to a record low of 1.25 percent in October 2019.
Bonds, issued by industrial companies, soared 27.1 percent over the year to 45.3 trillion won (38.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2019 for the main purposes of business operation and refinancing.
Debts, sold by financial companies, rose 0.7 percent to 109.9 trillion won (93.4 billion U.S. dollars), but the issuance of asset-backed securities (ABS) declined 7.2 percent to 15 trillion won (12.8 billion U.S. dollars).
