The amount of loans supplied by the Bank of Korea soared to the highest level in 21 years at the end of February as the central bank issued more money to support companies, data showed Wednesday.

Loans provided via money issuance totaled 15.4 trillion won($13.9 billion) as of the end of February, up 66.5 percent from the previous year, according to BOK data.

The figure marks the biggest amount since July 1994, when it reached 15.6 trillion won when not calculating the change in currency value.

It also marks the first time the amount rose to the 15-trillion won level since February 1999, when it hit 15.1 trillion won in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis.

The rise comes as the central bank is beefing up money issuance to support companies due to a tax revenue shortage.

Late last month, the BOK raised the ceiling of its loan facility for smaller firms extended through commercial lenders to 20 trillion won from 15 trillion won in addition to cutting the rates on some other loan programs.

The central bank had capped the ceiling at 15 trillion won since July, when it decided to hike the threshold to help spur loans to small and medium-sized enterprises. (Yonhap)