Release of the statistical data on deposits and loans of credit institutions for December 2023

Published: 31/1/2024

Summary:

  • At the end of December 2023, the deposits of households, non-financial corporations and the general government stood at EUR 37.8bn, EUR 16.9bn and EUR 5.4bn, respectively.
  • In the past year household deposits increased at a rate of 1.4%.
  • At the end of December 2023, loans to households, non-financial corporations and the general government stood at EUR 21.8bn, EUR 14.6bn and EUR 6.3bn, respectively.
  • In the past year household loans increased at a rate of 9.5%, with general-purpose cash loans recording the most substantial growth at a rate of 11.1%.

According to monetary statistics data[1], at the end of December 2023, total domestic sector deposits[2] amounted to EUR 62.1bn. In the fourth quarter of 2023, total domestic sector deposits increased by EUR 0.9bn (1.4%), and compared to the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, an increase of EUR 2.6bn (4.3%) was recorded. The annual growth rate of total deposits decelerated from 6.2% at the end of September 2023 to 4.3% at the end of December 2023.

Broken down by sectors, in the fourth quarter of 2023, respective increases of EUR 0.4bn (7.3%) and EUR 0.2bn (1.3%) were recorded in general government deposits and the deposits of non-financial corporations, while household deposits declined by EUR 0.1bn (0.2%).

At the end of December 2023, the deposits of households, non-financial corporations and the general government stood at EUR 37.8bn, EUR 16.9bn and EUR 5.4bn, respectively.

At the end of December 2023, overnight deposits of domestic sectors[3] stood at EUR 44.9bn, with households accounting for EUR 27.6bn, non-financial corporations for EUR 12.8bn and the general government for EUR 3.7bn. In the fourth quarter of 2023, overnight deposits of households with credit institutions dropped by EUR 1.4bn (4.9%), while overnight deposits of non-financial corporations increased by EUR 0.2bn (1.6%).

The annual growth rate of total overnight deposits thus decelerated from 1.5% at the end of September 2023 to –4.6% at the end of December 2023. The annual decline in overnight deposits of non-financial corporations, which began in April 2023, decelerated from –14.1% at the end of September 2023 to –9.5% at the end of December 2023, while in overnight deposits of households the annual growth rate decreased from 11.2% at the end of September 2023 to –1.2% at the end of December 2023.

At the end of December 2023, time deposits of domestic sectors stood at EUR 17.2bn, with time deposits of households and non-financial corporations accounting for EUR 10.1bn and EUR 4.1bn, respectively. In the fourth quarter of 2023, time deposits of households increased by EUR 1.4bn (15.4%), while the time deposits of non-financial corporations rose only slightly (EUR 11.8m or 0.3%).

On an annual level, the growth in total time deposits accelerated from 23.4% at the end of September 2023 to 37.8% at the end of December 2023. The growth in time deposits of non-financial corporations, which had been recorded from the beginning of 2023, slowed down from 277.8% in annual terms at the end of September 2023 to 183.9% annually at the end of December 2023. At the same time, the annual growth rate of household time deposits increased from –8.2% at the end of September 2023 to 9.3% at the end of December 2023.

At the end of December 2023, total loans to domestic sectors stood at EUR 43.1bn, which is an increase of EUR 0.2bn (0.5%) from the end of the third quarter of 2023 and an increase of EUR 2.5bn (6.0%) from the end of the fourth quarter of 2022. On an annual level, the growth in total loans to domestic sectors decelerated from 6.6% at the end of September 2023 to 6.0% at the end of December 2023.

Broken down by sectors, at the end of December 2023, household loans stood at EUR 21.8bn. In the third quarter of 2023, household loans increased by EUR 0.5bn (2.1%), up by EUR 1.9bn (9.5%) from the end of the fourth quarter of 2022. In the fourth quarter of 2023, housing loans grew by EUR 0.2bn (1.9%) and general-purpose cash loans also by EUR 0.2bn (2.9%), while all other[4] household loans rose by 0.8%.

On an annual level, the growth in household loans accelerated from 8.1% at the end of September 2023 to 9.5% at the end of December 2023, which was driven by the increase in the annual growth rate of general-purpose cash loans from 8.6% to 11.1% and other loans from 0.5% to 4.1%, while the annual rate of growth in housing loans dropped slightly from 10.0% to 9.9%.

At the end of December 2023, loans to non-financial corporations stood at EUR 14.6bn, having grown by EUR 0.1bn (0.9%) in the fourth quarter of 2023 and by EUR 0.9bn (6.3%) relative to the end of the fourth quarter of 2022.

On an annual level, the growth in loans to non-financial corporations slowed down from 7.8% at the end of September 2023 to 6.3% at the end of December 2023, reflecting the deceleration in the growth of investment loans[5] (from 8.1% to 6.7%) and other[6] loans (from 12.8% to 7.6%), while the growth in working capital loans accelerated (from 3.1% to 4.7%).

Statistical time series: Aggregated balance sheet of other monetary financial institutions

 


  1. Monetary statistics show the indicators of stocks and transactions of financial assets and liabilities of credit institutions. The changes and rates of change in the release are shown based on transactions. The transactions show changes that exclude the effects of exchange rate changes, reclassifications and write-offs of loans.

  2. Domestic sectors in the release include the general government, households, non-financial corporations, other financial institutions (investment funds other than money market funds, other financial intermediaries and financial auxiliaries) and insurance corporations and pension funds. Non-financial corporations consist of institutional units which are independent legal entities and market producers and whose principal activity is the production of goods and/or non-financial services.

  3. Overnight deposits comprise transaction (giro and current) accounts, savings deposits and a small share of electronic money and restricted deposits.

  4. Other household loans mainly refer to transaction account overdrafts, credit card loans, mortgage loans and other loans.

  5. Investment loans to non-financial corporations comprise loans for construction, tourism, agriculture and investments.

  6. Other loans to non-financial corporations mainly refer to syndicated loans, transaction account overdrafts, export finance loans, factoring and other loans.