Corporate loans extended by South Korean financial firms grew at a faster pace in the third quarter from three months earlier amid signs of an economic recovery, the central bank said Sunday.

Corporate lending stood at 718 trillion won ($611.6 billion) in the July-September period, up 12.3 trillion won or 1.7 percent from the previous quarter, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the fastest growth since the first quarter when such loans rose 2 percent.

Total loans provided by banks and non-bank financial firms reached 1,256.7 trillion won as of the end of September, up 1.8 percent from three months earlier, the BOK said. By industry, lending to manufacturers gained 2 percent to 217.9 trillion won last quarter.

The South Korean economy grew 2.9 percent in the third quarter from three months earlier, the steepest quarterly expansion in more than seven years, on improving domestic demand and brisk exports.

The BOK cut its key interest rate by a total of 3.25 percentage points to a record low of 2 percent between October 2008 and February.

kjk@koreatimes.co.kr