The Bank of Korea(BOK) has warned that if household debt continues to rise, it could take longer for the economy to recover.

In a Monday report, the central bank analyzed debt levels and policy implementation in 42 countries since 2000, and found that when household debt rose for three to four years, measures then followed to bring the debt level down.

The measures typically were enforced for two to three years, of which in 23 percent of the cases, home prices also fell. 

However, for South Korea, household debt has risen for 16 straight years since 2005, which the BOK called an "anomaly".

Since the start of the pandemic in early 2020 to early this year, increases in household and corporate debt came to ten and 13 percentage points, respectively. Over the same period, government debt also rose by seven percentage points.

The first two figures are higher than the average rise of all the other countries the BOK examined.

The report said, if the debt situation is combined with external shocks, it can accelerate financial uncertainty and contract sentiment in consumption, investment and the real economy.

The central bank said, if snowballing debt continues, it could increase economic volatility, undermine macro-financial stability and reduce room for policy-making and private sector spending. The BOK stressed the need to steadily adjust leverage.