Central Bank figures show €19m fall in home loans

THE appetite for credit continues to fall as the amount of private sector credit (PSC) declined annually by 6% in 2009.

In the month of December new Central Bank figures show mortgage debt was down by€19 million as borrowers paid more off existing loans than they borrowed, new credit figures from the Central Bank show.

PSC fell by €1.2 billion, or 0.3%, in December as banks wrote down bad loans and increased provisions for bad debts while exchange rate effects were also a factor in the weaker figures.