Ireland’s Central Bank has released its latest money and banking statistics for March 2018. The figures show that lending for house purchase increased by €184 million. This represents the fifth consecutive month of positive annual growth.
Other highlights include:
Developments in Household credit and deposits
- Loans to households, adjusted for loan sales and securitisations, declined by 1.5 per cent in annual terms to end-March.
- Mortgage loans, which account for 83 per cent of total on-balance sheet loans, increased by €190 million in March. Seasonal effects impact quarterly figures. In year-on-year terms, net mortgage lending rose by €184 million or 0.2 per cent, the fifth consecutive month of annual growth.
- Non-housing loans increased by 0.7 per cent or €103 million in annual terms to end-March. Lending for consumption purposes grew by 2.4 per cent or €289 million annually. Consumer lending growth has slowed in recent months and is now at its lowest rate since June 2016. Loans for other purposes continued to decline, falling by €188 million or 7.5 per cent.
- Medium-term lending drove the growth in consumer lending with loans for between one and five years rising by 7.1 per cent in the year to end-March. Lending for less than one year and for greater than five years continued to decline, falling by 1.8 and 6 per cent, respectively.
- Deposits from households increased in net terms by €889 million in March. Annually, household deposit lodgements were €3.6 billion higher than withdrawals, resulting in growth of 3.7 per cent.
- Developments in loans and deposits mean that Irish households continued to be net funders of the Irish banking system. Banks held €10.8 billion more in household deposits than loans at end-March, with the loan-to-deposit ratio standing at 0.89.
Developments in NFC credit and deposits
- Net lending to non-financial corporations (NFCs) increased in net terms by €93 million in March. On an annual basis net lending declined by 0.3 per cent, following two months of positive annual growth.
- Medium-term lending rose by 8 per cent in the year to end-March. Following two months of positive annual growth, long-term lending declined in March by 1.1 per cent. Short-term lending continued to decline, falling by 9.4 per cent over the year
- NFC deposits declined by €927 million in net terms in March, following an increase of €560 million in February . As with the household sector, NFCs continue to be significant net funders of the banking system with deposits exceeding loans by €8.9 billion.
- Total NFC deposits grew by 9.2 per cent annually to end-March, continuing the trend of annual growth in corporate deposits observed since 2012.
Developments in other counterparty sectors
- Total lending decreased by 1.8 per cent in the year to end-March, driven by a 9.6 per cent fall in loans to monetary financial institutions (MFIs).
- Lending to the private sector, which accounts for 77 per cent of banks’ loan books, rose by 0.8 per cent.
- Credit institutions’ holdings of Irish-issued debt and equity securities declined by €6 billion or 8.3 per cent in the year to end-March.
- Irish-resident banks’ borrowings from the Central Bank as part of Eurosystem monetary policy operations remained unchanged at €7.5 billion in March, with the domestic market group of banks accounting for 99 per cent of this.
