SEOUL, May 30 (Xinhua) -- The household lending rate in South Korea fell last month on the near-record-low policy rate, central bank data showed Thursday.

The rate for new household lending, extended by banks, averaged an annualized rate of 3.48 percent in April, down 0.05 percentage points from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It was the lowest since September 2017 as the BOK kept its benchmark rate at the near-record-low level.

The BOK raised its target rate by 25 basis points to 1.75 percent in November last year, after lifting it to 1.50 percent from an all-time low of 1.25 percent a year earlier.

Expectations ran high for the BOK's rate cut on the economic downturn. The country's real gross domestic product (GDP), adjusted for inflation, contracted 0.3 percent in the January-March quarter from the prior quarter.

The mortgage loan rate declined 0.06 percentage points over the month to 2.98 percent in April, the lowest since October 2016. The credit loan rate dipped 0.09 percentage points to 4.54 percent.

The rate for bank corporate lending was unchanged at 3.71 percent last month compared with the previous month.

The rate for lending to big corporations rose 0.03 percentage points to 3.53 percent, but the lending rate for small firms fell 0.01 percentage point to 3.83 percent. Enditem

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