SEOUL, Banks' loan rate rose slightly from a month earlier in October, data showed Tuesday.
The average lending rate of banks applied to new loans last month came to 5.17 percent, up 0.07 percentage point from a month earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The average rate had grown at the same pace in September.
The central bank had kept its key rate frozen at 3.5 percent for the sixth straight time in October.
Household loans, however, continued to grow amid signs of slowing economic growth and continued inflation.
In October, household loans extended by banks in South Korea rose for the seventh consecutive month, according to earlier data.
Banks' lending rate on household loans came to 5.04 percent on average in October, adding 0.14 percentage point from a month earlier and breaching the 5 percent mark for the first time since February, according to the BOK.
Their lending rate for corporate loans added 0.06 percentage point to 5.33 percent over the cited period, it added.
The rate banks pay for deposits reached 3.95 percent in October, up 0.14 percentage point from the previous month.
The spread on banks' lending and deposit rates narrowed to 1.29 percentage points last month from 1.36 percentage points in September, the BOK data showed.
Source: Yonhap News Agency