The amount of non-performing loans, considered as the Cypriot economy’s main challenge, fell mainly on a drop in bad loans of non-financial corporations, which fell by €605.6m in March, compared with February, to €12.6bn or 55.1%, the Central Bank of Cyprus said in a statement on its website on Wednesday. The figures on non-financial corporations include a reduction of non-performing loans of small and medium size enterprises by €230.3m to €8.7m or 61.5%.

The central bank added that the bad loans of households fell in March by €280.8m to €12.5bn or 56.4%. The non-performing loans of other financial corporations fell €188.8m to €476.2m or 6.7%.

The March non-performing loans value is the lowest since December 2014, when the Central Bank of Cyprus introduced a new methodology to classify this type of delinquent loans.

In March, the total amount of 90 days past due loans fell also by €1.1bn to €19.7bn, or 37% of the banks’ loan portfolio. The value of restructured loans dropped by €348.6m to €13.9bn. Overall provisions for loan impairments fell in March to €9.5bn from €9.9bn the month before.

Source: Cyprus Mail