National reduces its loan rates
National Bank announced on Monday that it will be giving the market a breather by moving ahead on Wednesday with a 0.25 percent reduction to the interest rate of loan products.
Besides the 700,000 existing borrowers that will immediately see their debt burden lightened, the decision by the country?s biggest bank will have a positive impact on the business world in general and therefore on the country?s economy, given that the cost of money in Greece has recently been particularly high. Market experts add that other lenders may well follow National?s example soon.
The reduction that National announced concerns the floating rates for professionals and small and medium-sized enterprises, the overdraft rate and the floating rates of consumer credit that are not connected with the Consumer Credit Default Rate, the European Central Bank rate and Euribor.
The latest Bank of Greece data show that the average rate for new loans stood at 6.18 percent in May, at a time when the benchmark interest rate of the euro is at historically low levels.
