Corporate loan stock growing faster in Finland than in other euro area countries
Despite economic uncertainty, the annual growth rate of the stock of loans to non-financial corporations has been high in Finland compared to the euro area. In the euro area, the annual growth rate has been negative over 2014, while in Finland it has been positive throughout the year, standing at 6.4% in December. In statistics produced in the euro area, housing corporations are included in the non-financial corporations sector. In Finland, housing corporations account for a significant share – about a third – of the total stock of loans to non-financial corporations. Excluding housing corporations, the annual growth rate of the corporate loan stock was 3.7% in December. The annual growth rate of the stock of loans to housing corporations was 13.1%. |
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In Finland, the cost of borrowing is close to the average euro area level. The average interest rate on new corporate loan agreements was 2.0% in December, compared to 2.2% in the euro area in November. However, there are differences across euro area countries: in Spain non-financial corporations paid an average rate of 3.1% on loans in November, compared to about 1.9% in Germany.
In December 2014, Finnish households’ new drawdowns of housing loans amounted to EUR 1.2 bn. The average interest rate on new housing-loan drawdowns was 1.69%, slightly down on November. The stock of euro-denominated housing loans totalled EUR 89.8 bn at the end of December, and the annual growth rate of the stock was 1.7%. At the end of December, household credit comprised EUR 13.5 bn in consumer credit and EUR 15.5 bn in other loans. New drawdowns of loans to non-financial corporations (excl. overdrafts and credit card credit) amounted in December to EUR 3.2 bn, which is EUR 0.8 bn less than in December 2013. The average interest rate on new corporate-loan drawdowns decreased from November, to 2.13%. At the end of December, the stock of euro-denominated loans to non-financial croprations was EUR 68.3 bn, of which loans to housing corporations accounted for EUR 21.2 bn. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deposits At the end of December, the stock of household deposits totalled EUR 80.8 bn, and the average interest rate on the deposits was 0.37%. Overnight deposits accounted for EUR 54.2 bn and deposits with agreed maturity for EUR 13.2 bn of the total deposit stock. In December, households conculded EUR 1.3 bn of new agreements on deposits with agreed maturity. The average interest rate on these was 0.96%. Notes: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Key figures of Finnish MFIs' loans and deposits, preliminary data
1 Rate of change has been calculated from monthly differences in levels adjusted for classification and other revaluation changes. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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