S Korean banks' corporate loan growth recovers in April

SEOUL, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Growth of South Korean banks' lending to
companies restored in April thanks to government credit guarantees, the central
bank said Monday.

According to the Bank of Korea (BOK), local banks' outstanding loans to
companies stood at 472.4 trillion won (381.6 billion U.S. dollars), marking a
month-on-month increase of 3.22 trillion won (2.6 billion U.S. dollars).

The April rise compared with a 2.1 trillion-won (1.7 billion-U.S. dollar)
increase in March, the central bank said.

The rise in loan growth comes as bank loans to smaller companies picked up
with state-run agencies' providing loan guarantees, the BOK said.

Local banks' loans to smaller companies climbed by 3.2 trillion won (2.6
billion U.S. dollars) to come in at 412.3 trillion won (333.1 billion U.S.
dollars), while those to larger companies marked an increase of mere 19.1
billion won (15.4 million U.S. dollars) to reach 60.1 trillion won (48.5 billion
U.S. dollars, the BOK added.

The South Korean government has endeavored to help local lenders increase
loans to smaller firms by providing credit guarantees as lenders stayed
concerned over their financial health.

S Korea sees increase in bond issuance in April

SEOUL, May 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's bond issuance rose 14.2 percent last month from March as sales of treasuries and bonds by the central bank expanded, the nation's bourse operator said Monday.

The total bonds issued in the nation last month amounted to 65.06 trillion won (52.2 billion U.S. dollars), up from 56.98 trillion won (45.7 billion U.S. dollars), according to the Korea Exchange (KRX).

The April rise came as the Bank of Korea (BOK) sold massive amounts of bonds in a bid to absorb short-term funds from the market, according to the bourse operator.

The rise is also attributable to the government's increased sales of treasuries after it expanded its supplementary budget, the operator said.

The value of the nation's outstanding bonds came in at 948.69 trillion won (761.17 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of April, up 24.63 trillion won (19.76 billion U.S. dollars) from the previous month, it said.

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