SEOUL, May 23: South Korea’s annual household credit growth eased to the slowest rate in more than eight years over the first quarter, data showed on Thursday, underscoring a deepening slump in consumer spending.
Household credit at the end of March was up 4.9 percent year-on-year at 961.6 trillion won ($863.29 billion), from a 5.2 percent gain three months before and the slowest pace since the end of December 2004, central bank data showed.
It also marked the seventh consecutive quarter of slowing growth in household credit, which includes borrowings from financial institutions and purchases on credit, as the prospects for the global and local economy remained uncertain.
The poor household credit growth for the quarter owed mainly to a sharp decline in purchases on credit, which shrank by 4.3 trillion won during the January-March period. It was the biggest drop in value since the third quarter of 2003.
The new government of President Park Geun-hye has introduced a series of stimulus measures, including $5 billion worth of additional spending plans, as Asia’s fourth-largest economy remains in a slump for a much longer period than expected.
($1 = 1113.8750 Korean won)
(agencies)
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