S Korea's money supply growth stands at 3-month low in March

SEOUL, May 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's money supply grew by the smallest
amount in three months in March with local banks remaining reluctant to extend
loans, the central bank said Monday.

The country's liquidity aggregate, which measures the nation's total
currency in circulation, stood at 2,340.9 trillion won (1.89 trillion U.S.
dollars) as of end-March, marking an on-year increase of 10.6 percent, the Bank
of Korea (BOK) said.

The March rise was a slow down from a 10.8 percent on-year increase of the
previous month, marking the slowest growth since December 2008, according to the
BOK.

"Slowing growth in the money supply in March came despite a large surplus
of the current account as local banks are cautious about extending credit to
households and firms," the BOK said.