South Korea's corporate bond sale fell last year due to higher borrowing costs, financial watchdog data showed Wednesday.

The issuance of corporate bonds amounted to 182.63 trillion won (148 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022, down 9.8 percent from the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

It has marked the first reduction in seven years since 2015 amid rapid interest rate hikes.

The country's central bank raised its policy rate since August 2021 from a record low of 0.50 percent to 3.50 percent.

Bonds, sold by industrial companies, tumbled 35.0 percent to 30.37 trillion won (24.6 billion dollars) last year, while financial companies-issued bonds slipped 1.1 percent to 138.03 trillion won (111.9 billion dollars).

The issuance of asset-backed securities (ABS) retreated 11.4 percent to 14.23 trillion won (11.5 billion dollars).

Equity financing, including the initial public offering (IPO) and the rights issuance, stood at 21.94 trillion won (17.8 billion dollars) in 2022, down 24.6 percent from the prior year.