South Korean listed firms’ debt ratio fell in the first nine months of this year as their current assets grew faster than liabilities, data showed Monday.

The average debt ratio for 609 of 700 companies listed on the Seoul main bourse came to 78.18 percent at the end of September, down 1.87 percentage points from the end of last year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Exchange.

The debt ratio measures a firm’s total debt to its total assets, representing a company’s level of financial risk. A debt ratio above 100 means a company has more debt than assets.

The improvement came as the tallied firms’ assets grew by a wider margin than the pace at which their liabilities increased.

The surveyed firms’ current assets rose 3.41 percent on-year to 755.66 trillion won ($687.28 billion) in the third quarter compared to the end of last year, while their liabilities were up 0.99 percent to 590.74 trillion won over the cited period, the data showed.

A total of 381 firms, or 62.5 percent, had a debt ratio below the danger threshold of 100 percent, while 11.7 percent owed more than twice as much as their assets, according to the data. (Yonhap)