Statistics

Release of the statistical data on deposits and loans of credit institutions for March 2024

Published: 30/4/2024

Summary:

  • At the end of March 2024, the deposits of households, non-financial corporations and the general government stood at EUR 37.0bn, EUR 15.7bn and EUR 5.4bn, respectively.
  • In the past year household deposits increased at a rate of 2.9%.
  • At the end of March 2024, loans to households, non-financial corporations and the general government stood at EUR 22.3bn, EUR 14.6bn and EUR 6.3bn, respectively.
  • In the past year household loans increased at a rate of 10.9%, with general-purpose cash loans recording the most substantial growth at a rate of 12.9%.

According to monetary statistics data[1], at the end of March 2024, total domestic sector deposits[2] amounted to EUR 59.8bn. In the first quarter of 2024, total domestic sector deposits decreased by EUR 2.3bn (3.7%), and compared to the end of first quarter of 2023, an increase of EUR 3.6bn (6.3%) was recorded. The annual growth rate of total deposits accelerated from 4.3% at the end of December 2023 to 6.3% at the end of March 2024.

Broken down by sectors, in the first quarter of 2024, respective decreases of EUR 1.2bn (6.9%) and EUR 0.8bn (2.0%) were recorded in deposits of non-financial corporations and households, while general government deposits decreased only slightly.

At the end of March 2024, the deposits of households, non-financial corporations and the general government stood at EUR 37.0bn, EUR 15.7bn and EUR 5.4bn, respectively.

Figure 1 Domestic sector deposits with credit institutions

At end-March 2024, overnight deposits of domestic sectors[3] stood at EUR 41.4bn, with households accounting for EUR 26.3bn, non-financial corporations for EUR 11.1bn, and the general government for EUR 3.4bn. In the first quarter of 2024, overnight deposits of households with credit institutions dropped by EUR 1.3bn (4.7%), while overnight deposits of non-financial corporations with credit institutions decreased by EUR 1.7bn (13.4%).

On an annual level, total overnight deposits decelerated their decline from –4.6% at the end of December 2023 to –3.5% at the end of March 2024. The annual decline in overnight deposits of non-financial corporations decelerated from –9.5% at the end of December 2023 to –6.7% at the end of March 2024, while in overnight deposits of households the annual decline accelerated from –1.2% at the end of December 2023 to –2.9% at the end of March 2024.

At end-March 2024, time deposits of domestic sectors stood at EUR 18.4bn, with time deposits of households and non-financial corporations accounting for EUR 10.7bn and EUR 4.6bn, respectively. In the first quarter of 2024, time deposits of households increased by EUR 0.5bn (5.4%), while the time deposits of non-financial corporations rose by EUR 0.6bn (13.8%).

On an annual level, the growth in total time deposits decelerated mildly from 37.8% at the end of December 2023 to 37.7% at the end of March 2024. The growth in time deposits of non-financial corporations slowed down from 183.9% in annual terms at the end of December 2023 to 77.0% annually at the end of March 2024. At the same time, the annual growth rate of household time deposits increased from 9.3% at end-December 2023 to 20.4% at end-March 2024.

Figure 2 Overnight and time deposits of households and non-financial corporations with credit institutions

At the end of March 2024, total loans to domestic sectors stood at EUR 43.6bn, which is an increase of EUR 0.5bn (1.2%) from the end of the fourth quarter of 2023 and an increase of EUR 2.0bn (4.8%) from the end of first quarter of 2023. On an annual level, the growth in total loans to domestic sectors decelerated from 6.0% at end-December 2023 to 4.8% at end-March 2024.

Figure 3 Credit institutions' loans to domestic sectors

Broken down by sectors, at the end of March 2024, household loans stood at EUR 22.3bn. In the first quarter of 2024, household loans increased by EUR 0.6bn (2.5%), up by EUR 2.2bn (10.9%) from the end of first quarter of 2023. In the first quarter of 2024, housing loans grew by EUR 0.2bn (1.7%) and general-purpose cash loans grew by EUR 0.3bn (3.9%), while all other household loans[4] rose by EUR 0.1bn (1.8%).

On an annual level, the growth in household loans accelerated from 9.5% at the end of December 2023 to 10.9% at the end of March 2024, which was driven by the increase in the annual growth rate of general-purpose cash loans from 11.1% to 12.9%, housing loans from 9.9% to 10.8% and other loans from 4.1% to 5.5%. Such growth in general-purpose cash loans was last recorded at the end of February 2019.

Figure 4 Household loans

At the end of March 2024, loans to non-financial corporations stood at EUR 14.6bn, having decreased slightly by EUR 0.1bn (0.4%) in the first quarter of 2024 and having rose by EUR 0.6bn (4.0%) from the end of the first quarter of 2023.

On an annual level, the growth in loans to non-financial corporations slowed down from 6.3% at the end of December 2023 to 4.0% at the end of March 2024, largely reflecting the deceleration in the growth of other loans[5] (from 7.6% to –3.6%), while the growth in working capital loans and investment loans [6] accelerated (from 4.7% to 6.1% and from 6.7% to 7.9%).

Figure 5 Loans to non-financial corporations

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 primarily mainly refer to transaction account overdrafts, credit card loans, mortgage loans and other loans. ↑

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

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