Household loans extended by South Korean financial institutions rose by 7.5 trillion won ($6.9 billion) in November, slightly slowing from the previous month’s record gain but still marking a substantial increase, data showed Tuesday.

Outstanding household lending by local lenders and non-banking institutions reached 738.2 trillion won in November, compared with 730.7 trillion won a month earlier, according to the data by the Bank of Korea.

The on-month gain is slightly less than the record 7.8 trillion won growth in October when the BOK lowered the base rate for the second time in the year to bolster growth.

By sector, banks’ household loans increased by 6 trillion won to 514.2 trillion won, while those by non-banking institutions rose 1.6 trillion won to 223.9 trillion won.

Of the total, mortgage loans extended by all financial institutions rose 4.9 trillion won to 455.4 trillion won, slowing from the previous month’s 5.4 trillion won gain.

The latest data comes two days ahead of the central bank’s first policy decision for this year. In a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, 20 out of 22 analysts projected the BOK to stand pat on the 2 percent base rate as the government is putting more weight on structural reform over short-term policies.

Some analysts also said the central bank is likely to continue to gauge the impact of previous rate cuts and rein in growing household debt.

“There are growing concerns about the high level of household debt, and lower interest rates could encourage households to take on more debt, which would in turn lead to a further buildup of risks in the financial sector,” said Krystal Tan, economist at Capital Economics. (Yonhap)