Anchor: The nation’s household debt posted a new high in the first quarter. Though growth in household debt slowed down with banks’ lending of loans becoming stricter, loans taken out from non-banking institutions surged. 
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.
 
Report: The Bank of Korea(BOK) announced that the nation’s household debt in the first quarter amounted to one-point-two-two-three quadrillion won, or over one-point-zero-three-six trillion U.S. dollars. 

The amount is up 20-point-six trillion won from the previous quarter while the rise is the sharpest to be posted for the first quarter since related statistics began to be recorded in 2002.
 
Excluding credit card purchases, the total amount of loans taken out by households amounted to roughly one-point-one-five-eight quadrillion won in the first quarter, up 20-and-a-half trillion won from the previous quarter.
 
Loans extended to households by the banking sector grew only five-point-six trillion won compared to the 22 trillion won growth posted in the fourth quarter of last year. Such growth apparently slowed as the government strengthened loan qualifications to further scrutinize borrowers' income and repayment abilities.
 
However, loans extended by non-banking institutions, including insurance companies, grew seven-point-four trillion won, or far higher than the four-point-seven trillion won growth posted in the fourth quarter of 2015.
 
The central bank said that demand for loans shifted to non-banking institutions amid stricter lending conditions by banks.
 
Meanwhile, credit card purchase loans amounted to some 65 trillion won in the first quarter, or only 100 billion won more than the previous quarter.
 
Household spending is assessed to have shrunk amid continuous growth in household debt and a contraction in consumer sentiment resulting from corporate restructuring.
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.