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Article: Plastic bubble; South Korean consumers.(South Korea's borrowing consumers)(rapid growth of retail lending in South Korea)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- April 20, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Consumer credit fuels South Korea's boom
NO LONGER are the chaebol, South Korea's conglomerates, the country's biggest borrowers. After the economic collapse of 1997-98, the government forced the chaebol to restructure and slash debt, and urged the banks to lend elsewhere. That helped smaller firms in thriving service industries. But it also triggered an explosion in retail lending. At 350 trillion won ($265 billion), loans to individuals and households now account for around half of Korean bank and non-bank lending. Since the end of December alone, loans have grown by over 12%. New credit that is driving demand, says Christopher Wood of CLSA in Hong Kong, is the ...