The ECB published January bank lending rates the day before yesterday, with a slight fall of -1bp to 5.1% in new corporate loans (third consecutive month of declines) and -13bp to 3.9% in new loans to households (for the second consecutive month). Among the major European economies, Spanish and French corporate loans lead the January tightening (-11bp to 4.9% and -5bp to 4.8% respectively), in contrast to the 12bp widening…
MADRID | The Corner | The ECB published yesterday figures on bank lending that show the outlook keep being worrying. On the one hand there was an improvement in credit to households and on the other hand a further squeeze on credit to business, especially a pronounced decline in countries like Spain. The overall balance in July is a contraction of 1.6% YoY, which represents a further improvement since it got to the bottom during November, December and January (-2.5% YoY each month). Credit in the private sector continues to contract (-2.3% YoY) in line with last month but improving over July 2013 (-3.7% YoY ) and in general over the monthly evolution in 2014. In Spain the credit contracts € 7bn (-1.2% MoM from -1.04% MoM in June) and it moves back by € 77 bn YoY (-11.7%). In Italy the set-back is even bigger MoM (-3.6%) but is limited to +1.6% YoY.