S.Korea's household debt growth slows in November

South Korea's household debt growth slowed down last month due to higher borrowing cost, central bank data showed Wednesday.

Debt, owed by households to banks, stood at 1,060.9 trillion won (901.7 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of November, up 3 trillion won (2.6 billion U.S. dollars) from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It was down from an expansion of 5.2 trillion won (4.4 billion U.S. dollars) in October and 6.4 trillion won (5.4 billion U.S. dollars) in September.

The slower increase was driven by the higher borrowing cost. The BOK lifted its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 1 percent in November, after raising the rate from a record low of 0.50 percent to 0.75 percent in August.

Banks' mortgage loan to households rose 2.4 trillion won (2 billion U.S. dollars) from a month earlier to 776.9 trillion won (660.3 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of November.

It was down from a growth of 4.7 trillion won (4 billion U.S. dollars) in October, marking the lowest monthly increase since February 2018.

Credit loan to households grew by 500 billion won (425 million U.S. dollars) in November.