SEOUL: South Korean banks’ lending rate fell for the second straight month amid the continued policy rate freeze, central bank data shows.

The weighted average rate for new bank loans dipped 0.01 percentage point over the month to an annualised 5.1% in August, after sliding 0.06 percentage points in the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BoK).

The BoK has left its policy rate unchanged at 3.5% since January, after increasing it by three percentage points for the past one and a half years.

Rate for banks’ new corporate loans slipped 0.04 percentage points from a month earlier to 5.21% in August.

The lending rate for big companies stood unchanged at 5.17%, while the rate for small firms went down 0.08 percentage points to 5.24%.

Rate for new bank loans to households gained 0.03 percentage points to 4.83% last month, marking the first rebound in three months.

Mortgage loan rate for households added 0.03 percentage points to 4.31%, and credit loan rate climbed 0.01 percentage point to 6.53%.

The weighted average rate for new bank deposits decreased 0.03 percentage points over the month to an annualised 3.65% in August. — Xinhua