SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- South Korean banks' loan delinquency rate rebounded in July on the back of more new delinquent loans than bad loan settlements, financial watchdog data showed Tuesday.
The delinquency ratio of bank loans, overdue by at least one month, gained 0.07 percentage points from a month earlier to 0.63 percent at the end of July, after going down 0.11 percentage points in the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.
Newly generated delinquent loans reached 3.2 trillion won (2.4 billion U.S. dollars) in the cited month, larger than the settlement of non-performing loans worth 1.4 trillion won.
Excluding the settled bad loans, the delinquency rate for new bank loans stood at 0.12 percent in July, up 0.02 percentage points from a month earlier.
The delinquency rate for corporate loans increased 0.10 percentage points from a month earlier to 0.78 percent at the end of July, and the ratio for household loans added 0.02 percentage points to 0.42 percent.
The financial watchdog cautioned that there remained a possibility for a gain in delinquency rate in the coming months due to the sustained environment of high interest rates and external economic uncertainties.
Following a 25-basis-point increase in July, the country's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by another quarter percentage point to 3.00 percent in August. ■
