Self-employed loans and overdue loans, the largest ever... were right at the "marginal level."

Loans balances and arrears for self-employed people, who have been struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic and sluggish consumption, have both hit their biggest levels ever, the data showed.

According to the current status of self-employed loans submitted by the Bank of Korea to Rep. Yang Boo-nam of the Democratic Party of Korea and Rep. Park Sung-hoon of the Strategy and Finance Committee, the total loan balance of self-employed people to financial institutions is estimated to be KRW 164.4 trillion.

Loan growth was 0.4% in both the second and third quarters, following 0.3% in the first quarter of this year, with the balance increasing by KRW 4.3 trillion in three months.

In addition, the total number of self-employed financial institutions stood at 1.7% as of the third quarter of this year, the highest level in nine years and six months, and the delinquency amount also broke the all-time record of 18.1 trillion won.

In a recent financial stability report, the Bank of Korea advised that the number of low-income and low-credit self-employed borrowers should be analyzed and selectively responded to.