LENDING TO IRISH households continued to fall on an annual basis up to September this year, the Central Bank said today.

Its latest money and banking statistics for September 2013 show that household loan drawdowns exceeded repayments during that month for only the third time since the end of 2009.

It said that this monthly increase of €37 million was entirely due to an increase in net consumer credit drawdowns of €87 million (0.7 per cent). Housing related and other non-consumption related loans recorded negative net flows, minus €45 million and minus €5 million, respectively.

However, this was notably less negative than recent months, said the Central bank.

Lending to Irish households registered an annual decline of 4.2 per cent in September, following a 4.3 per cent fall in August.

This was because mortgages were declined at an annual rate of 2.4 per cent last month. Meanwhile, lending for other purposes declined by 9.8 per cent over the period.

For the three months to the end of September, the flow of loans to households averaged -€296 million.

Lending to Irish resident non-financial corporations (NFCs) declined by 4.5 per cent on an annual basis in September 2013. Plus, NFCs’ loan repayments exceeded drawdowns and loans to NFCs dclined by €63 million.

Credit institutions’ borrowings from Central Bank fell by €700 million last month, an annual decline of 18.9 per cent.

Deposits from Irish residents increased at an annual rate of 8.6 per cent last month, which followed a rise of 7.8 per cent in August.

There was an increase of €251 million (0.1 per cent) in Irish resident private-sector deposits last month.

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