Bank lending The euro zone saw a slight increase of 0.3% in May, the research firm reported. Europe Central Bank.
The growth came after months of record-high interest rates, which likely caused hesitation from both lenders and borrowers, BNR said.
0.3% increase Bank lending Compared to the same month a year ago, that was a slight acceleration from April's 0.2% increase. Notably, this represents the slowest rate of household credit growth since early 2015, according to national radio sources.
Similarly, Bank Lending to non-financial corporations also increased slightly in May, rising to 0.3% from 0.2% the previous month.
Credit growth for the overall private sector, which includes households and non-financial corporations, slowed to 0.8% from a 0.9% increase in the previous month.
These numbers are Europe Center BankAt its June 6 meeting, the ECB announced its first interest rate cut since 2019. After the meeting, the ECB adjusted its base refinancing rate to 4.25%. lending The facility rate has been increased to 4.50% and the deposit rate to 3.75%.
From July 2022 to September 2023, the euro area Bank In response to severe inflation across the 20 eurozone countries, the central bank raised interest rates by a total of 450 basis points, with inflation reaching a peak of 10.6% in October 2022.
