Loans to households, companies continue to fall in December

Loans to Irish households and business continued to decline in December, new figures from the Central Bank have shown.

But deposits were on the rise, driven by non-financial corporations.

The figures show household loan repayments exceeded drawdowns by €139 million in the final month of 2013, as loans for house purchases continued to fall, declining by €167 million. This offset a €40 million rise in loans for consumption during the same period.

Looking at the figures on an annual basis, household lending was down by 4.1 per cent in December, slightly improved from the 4.3 per cent in November. Home loans were again the driving factor, falling by 3 per cent on an annual basis.

Despite the rise in consumption loans in December, over the year lending for this category was down by 7.6 per cent.

It was a similar situation for firms. There was a decline across the board in all categories of lending, with medium term loans hit the hardest in December, falling by 2.4 per cent. Year on year, lending to Irish businesses was down 6 per cent in December, up from 4.9 per cent the previous month.

Looking at deposits, there was an increase of €570 million in Irish resident private-sector deposits during the month of December, as corporate deposits rose by €1.4 billion. Household deposits were also higher, rising by €28 million over the month, but a decline in those from financial institutions, and insurance corporations and pension funds.