Interest on household loans issued by commercial banks rose again last month amid a series of key rate hikes by the central bank to tame inflation.

According to the Bank of Korea(BOK) on Tuesday, the average lending rate for household loans in July stood at four-point-52 percent per year, up zero-point-29 percentage points from a month earlier. It is the highest rate levied on such loans in over nine years since hitting four-point-55 percent in March of 2013.

The so-called “big step” hike, or an unprecedented rise in the benchmark rate by 50 basis points by the BOK in July, was immediately factored into local bank loans, according to the BOK.

Interest rates on mortgage loans in particular jumped by zero-point-12 percentage points on average from a month earlier to four-point-16 percent.

As for bank loans offered to companies, their interest rates also climbed by zero-point-28 percentage points on average to four-point-12 percent in July.

Source: KBS World Radio