A surge in renegotiated corporate loans over €1 million pushed new loan contracts in March 2021 to a 91% increase compared with February, Central Bank of Cyprus data show.
Pure new loans in the Cyprus banking system registered an increase of 23.8% in March from February, amounting to €255 million.
According to the CBC, housing loans rose to €85.6 million in March, accounting for one-third of pure new credit for the month.
Housing loans are buoyed by a government scheme subsidizing new mortgage loans to reduce the impact of the covid pandemic.
New credit to companies over €1 million amounted to €81.7 million in March, while new corporate credit to companies up to €1 million reached €57 million.
Pure consumer credit in March reached €14.2 million while other pure loans were €16.4 million.
Total restructured loans were €356.6 million with renegotiated corporate loans over €1 million at €295 million, accounting for 82% of renegotiated loans.
Renegotiated loans up to €1 million amounted to €34 million, renegotiated mortgages rose to €19 million, while renegotiated consumer and other loans were €4 million and €4.5 million, respectively.
Moreover, deposit interest rates remained at historic low levels.
The interest rate on deposits from households with an agreed maturity of up to one year remained unchanged at 0.08% in March.
The interest rate on deposits from non-financial corporations registered a decline to 0.08%, from 0.13% in the previous month.
The interest rate on consumer credit decreased to 2.92%, from 3.11% the previous month, the interest rate on mortgages rose to 2.17% from 2.15% in February.
The interest rate on loans to non-financial corporations for amounts up to €1 million increased to 3.34%, from 3.19%.
Loan rates to non-financial corporations for amounts over €1 million rose to 3.37%, compared with 2.48% the previous month.
Source: Financial Mirror
