Borrowing crisis - Recklessness threatening our future

Statisticians can usually massage figures to show them in the most favourable light from their own particular perspective. But no amount of statistical massage can hide the fact that we are borrowing at an alarming rate.

In the first half of 2005, residential mortgage credit was expanding faster than non-mortgage credit, but the latter has risen faster in the latter half of the year. This trend is far from reassuring, because it merely reflects a splurge in non-mortgage borrowing.

Residential mortgage credit may not be keeping pace with the increase in other borrowing, but it is actually expanding faster than ever. It is increasing at an average of €1.95 billion a month, according to the latest Central Bank figures. The six highest monthly increases ever recorded have been in the past six months.