Cyprus bank loans up 12 pct y-o-y in January
Bank lending in Cyprus increased by 12 percent to 68.4 billion euros in January compared to a year ago, mainly because of a rise in credit to companies, the central bank said on Tuesday.
Loans to non-financial corporations rose 13 percent in January to 30.9 billion euros, the Central Bank of Cyprus said in a statement on its website.
Loans to other financial intermediaries increased 36 percent to 9.2 billion euros, mainly on a doubling of credit to firms of this type residing outside the euro area to 4 billion euros.
Household lending rose by 5.4 percent to 27.1 billion euros, according to the statement.
Housing loans, which were until November the driving force behind household credit, increased 4.8 percent to 15.1 billion euros.
Deposits at banks fell 0.7 percent to 69.6 billion euros last month compared with a year before, even as deposits held by other euro-area residents rose 32 percent to 5.5 billion euros, the central bank said. [Bloomberg]
