South Korea’s household loans from local financial institutions grew by 10 trillion won ($8.9 billion) in May from a month ago in the fastest monthly gain so far this year.

According to data released by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) on Wednesday, credit extended by banks, insurers, mutual finance institutions, savings banks, credit card firms and the Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives (KFCC) rose 10 trillion won last month, ballooning from 3.1 trillion won in January, 6.8 trillion won in February, 5.5 trillion won in March and 7.2 trillion won in April.

The increase softened slightly against 11.9 trillion won in May 2016.

The nation’s household loans increased 32.5 trillion won in the first five months of this year, closer to surge of 38.8 trillion won over the same period last year.

Household loans extended by local banks showed the largest on-month gain of 6.3 trillion won for this year after expanding by 100 billion won in January, 2.9 trillion won in February, 3 trillion won in March and 4.6 trillion won in April, but the growth pace slowed down compared to a year-ago period.

Mortgage-backed loans from banks increased 3.8 trillion won last month, of which collective loans accounted for 2 trillion won. Credit loans rose 1.8 trillion won over the same period.

Household loans by non-banking sector also showed the biggest gain of 3.7 trillion won since February, but the gaining pace tapered off compared to the previous year when it had expanded by 5.3 trillion won.

By Chung Seok-woo

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