€690m drop in bank lending

Financial institutions lent €690m less to Irish consumers in January than in December, according to new figures from the Central Bank.

The reason for the large decrease in lending — December’s monthly decline amounted to €65m in comparison — was a €394m decline in loans for consumption purposes and respective falls of €216m and €80m in mortgage lending and loans for other purposes.

On a year-on-year basis, total household lending levels fell by 3.9% in January; largely unchanged from the annualised falls in the preceding months; December seeing a 3.8% year-on-year fall and November seeing a 4.1% decline. But January’s annualised fall included a 2.4% fall in mortgage lending, slightly improved on December’s decline. Lending for consumption and other purposes was down by 8.2%, again on a year-on-year basis.