LOANS TO HOUSEHOLDS dropped by €632 million in April 2012 as the level of lending to Irish households continues to decline, according to the latest figures from the Central Bank.

Last month’s lending was down 4 per cent on a year-to-year basis, with loans for buying property down by 2.4 per cent and loans for consumption and other purposes down 8.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, lending in to the non-financial corporate sector fell by 1.8 per cent over the year to the end of April. The drop follows an annual decline of 2.2 per cent to the end of March. Loans to the non-financial corporate sector dropped by €326 million over April.

Household deposits for the month were down €104 million.

Private sector deposits held by Irish residents fell by 3.4 per cent on an annual basis at the end of last month – a slight change on the 4.3 per cent decline noted at the end of March. However, over the course of last month, the level of these deposits grew by almost €4m on March.

The Central Bank’s latest Money and Banking Statistics report shows that the level of debt and equity securities issued by the Irish private sector and held in credit institutions in Ireland fell by nearly €1.5 billion over April, meaning that the annual rate of change in these holdings is minus 7.3 per cent.

Credit institutions’ holdings of debt securities issued by other financial intermediaries which are not banks decreased by 7.6 per cent on an annual basis in April.