SEOUL, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's household debt growth hit a record monthly high last month as households raised credit loan amid an economic fallout from the COVID-19 resurgence, central bank data showed Wednesday.
Debt, owed by households to banks, amounted to 982.1 trillion won (907.7 billion U.S. dollars) as of end-November, up 13.6 trillion won (12.6 billion U.S. dollars) from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It marked the biggest monthly increase since data began to be compiled in 2004.
It was attributed to strong demand for credit loan, caused by the economic downturn from the COVID-19 resurgence here in November.
In the latest tally, South Korea reported 686 more cases of COVID-19 for the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 39,432. The daily caseload grew in triple digits for 32 days since Nov. 8.
Credit loan jumped 7.4 trillion won (6.8 billion U.S. dollars) from a month earlier to 265.6 trillion won (245.5 billion U.S. dollars) as of the end of November. It was the highest monthly expansion since 2004.
Mortgage loan, extended by banks to households, grew 6.2 trillion won (5.7 billion U.S. dollars) to 715.6 trillion won (661.4 billion U.S. dollars) in the cited period.
The country's household debt continued to go up amid the record-low policy rate. The BOK cut its key rate by 25 basis points to an all-time low of 0.50 percent in May after slashing the rate by 50 basis points in March. Enditem
