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The total amount of bad loans extended by South Korean banks surged to a 15-year high of 26.18 billion US dollars at the end of last year, reflecting a business slump in shipbuilding and other troubled industries, official data showed Monday.
Data from the Financial Supervisory Service showed that banks had about 29.97 trillion won ($26.18 billion) in non-performing loans (NPLs) at the end of December last year, up 5.76 trillion won from a year earlier.
The amount of corporate bad loans had stayed below 25 trillion won since it was tallied at 42.1 trillion won in 2000.
In recent years, bad loans from small companies have been on the decline due to tighter regulations on lending, but about 7.3 trillion won extended by banks to shipbuilders and other distressed major companies went sour in last year alone.
The rise in corporate bad loans has sent a danger signal to South Korea's economy which now faces massive corporate restructuring.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
