Household and Individual Business Debt Surpasses 2,000 Trillion Won... "Impact of Consumption Slowdown"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-gyu Lee] In the third quarter of last year, household and individual business owner debt surpassed 2,000 trillion won for the first time.

According to the Bank of Korea and others on the 5th, as of the end of September last year, the balance of household loans, individual business owner loans, and sales credit increased by 28.8 trillion won compared to three months earlier, totaling an estimated 2,011.4 trillion won.

Household loans were recorded at 1,481.6 trillion won, an increase of 13.6 trillion won. This includes 231.9 trillion won of household loans borrowed by individual business owner loan borrowers.

Individual business owner loans increased by 12.8 trillion won to 438.7 trillion won. Combining household loans and individual business owner loans borrowed by individual business owner loan borrowers, the total rose by 16.3 trillion won to 670 trillion won.

Sales credit, which refers to credit card debt, increased by 2.4 trillion won to 91.1 trillion won. Although sales credit is not a bank loan, it is still debt that must be repaid, so major institutions often consider it when assessing household credit trends.

Among the total increase in household credit (28.8 trillion won), loans to self-employed individual business owners (including household loans borrowed by individual business owner loan borrowers) accounted for 56.6%. Young-moo Cho, a research fellow at LG Economic Research Institute, explained, "As consumption slowed and business conditions worsened, self-employed individuals in the food service and wholesale/retail sectors appear to have increased their borrowing. However, under housing loan regulations, individual business owners' mortgage loans have not increased significantly."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.