Loans taken out by small business owners significantly impacted by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic expanded more than 14 percent in the past year.

According to data from the Bank of Korea(BOK) on Thursday, loans taken out by small businesses amounted to 887-point-five trillion won as of late September, up 14-point-two percent from a year earlier.

The increase in loans among the businesses was faster than the on-year ten-percent jump in total household loans.

A business owner held an average 350 million won in loans, quadruple that of the average 90 million won by a general loan seeker.

As of the third quarter, 578-point-one trillion won were bank loans, while 309-point-five trillion won were loans from non-bank financial institutions. The increase in loans from non-bank lenders jumped 19-point-eight percent on-year, higher than eleven-point-three percent growth in bank loans.