Household debt slows down in Q1

The growth pace of Korea’s household debt slowed down for five straight quarters but hit a fresh record high in the first three months of the year amid the government’s stricter lending rules, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The country’s outstanding household debt jumped to a record 1,468 trillion won ($1.36 trillion) in the January-March period, up 8 percent from a year earlier, preliminary data by the Bank of Korea (BOK) showed.

The year-on-year growth rate has been on a decline since it hit 11.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016. Also, the 8 percent gain is the lowest since the first quarter of 2015, when it was 7.4 percent.

From a quarter earlier, household debt — which is composed of household loans and credit card spending — rose 17.2 trillion won on-quarter in the first quarter.