Crisis Sees More Words Than Action from Gov't Pump-Priming and Its Limits Foreign Investors Returning to Korean Bourse Foreign Investors Snap Up Battered Korean Stocks Foreign Investors in Exodus from Korean Bourse Korean Stocks Stay Afloat as Global Shares Plunge Korea 'to Recover Fastest in G20' Common Misconceptions about the Korean Economy Financial Crisis Takes Real Economy Down With It Gov't to Bail Out SMEs With W8.3 Trillion Pump-Priming to Rise to W14 Trillion More Companies File for Protection Korea's Bourses: Stock Markets or Casinos?

According to a report submitted on Monday by the Small and Medium Business Administration to Grand National Party lawmaker Kim Tae-Whan of the National Assembly’s Knowledge Economy Committee, loans SMEs obtained from financial institutions rose from W303 trillion at the end of 2006 to W417 trillion as of September this year, jumping 37.6 percent. Interests for small- and medium-size businesses also rose by 1 percentage point for two years from 6.2 percent in 2006 to 7.19 percent as of July.

Kim said that the annual interest for small- and medium-size businesses jumped by 60 percent from W18.8 trillion in 2006 to W30 trillion this year. Those invested in KIKO are suffering as the won depreciation is expected to drive up the loss to W1.7 trillion.

(englishnews@chosun.com )