As we've reported on numerous times,... South Korea has its well-documented issues with household debt,... but it seems people in this country aren't alone in being saddled with costly mortgages.
Lee Seung-jae reports.
While household debt has come down in the United States, the UK and many European countries,.... ten nations have been identified as having high and quickly rising household debt levels as a share of their GDP,... and the group includes South Korea.
The International Monetary Fund has identified a 65-percent debt-to-GDP ratio as a warning sign and one percent growth as the threshold for meaningful growth.
South Korea's household debt growth is more than ten times higher than that marker,... with its debt-to-GDP ratio increasing at over ten percent.
According to the Wall Street Journal,... while historical records show that large debts may lead to a short-term economic boost,... it can also lead to long-term struggles, as a greater share of an economy's resources go into servicing the spending associated with high debts.
In addition,... the IMF says rising household debt is associated with greater risks of banking crashes and even financial crises.
At the top of the group,... Switzerland's debt-to-GDP ratio has climbed to more than 127 percent,... while Norway is faced with the biggest increase in debt over the past three years at 15 percent.
Despite the concerns,.. experts remain optimistic.
They say the countries on the list are better prepared,... and are less likely to have a massive cataclysm similar to the one that crashed the U.S. market and triggered the global financial crisis around a decade ago.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.
