OREANDA-NEWS. September 10, 2014. Moderate growth in the total volume of loans and leases to Estonian companies and households continued in July. Annual growth in the portfolio accelerated in July from 2.8% to 3.3% and the portfolio grew by 80 million euros during the month to some 15.2 billion.

Annual growth in the total volume of loans and leases to companies accelerated to 4.9% in July. In annual comparison, the biggest growth was of 16% in manufacturing and of 13.4% in the primary sector of agriculture, forestry and fishing. Both sectors saw growth in long-term loans for investment and in short-term loans for working capital. Just as it had in the past couple of months, the real estate and construction portfolios increased in July but the portfolios of logistics and infrastructure declined slightly at the same time.

The total volume of loans and leases to households grew by 1.5% over the year. Although some 20% more new residential loans were taken in July than in the previous three months or at the same time a year earlier, the annual growth in the residential loan portfolio remained modest at 2% due to repayments of earlier loans. The number of car leases issued in July was also more than in the preceding months or a year earlier, and annual growth in the issuance of new car leases reached 5%.

Borrowing is aided by low interest rates. The 6-month EURIBOR, which is the base interest rate for the majority of loan contracts, fell to 0.3% in July. The average interest margin on new residential loans was 2.1% and the average interest margin on long-term corporate loans was 2.7%, meaning both rates remained close to their averages of the past two years.

The improvement in the quality of the loan portfolio of the banks halted in July. The volume of loans overdue for more than 60 days increased slightly in July, mainly because of the real estate and construction sectors. Long-term overdue loans made up 1.8% of the loan portfolio at the end of the month, up from 1.7% in June.

The annual growth in deposits accelerated to 9%. Corporate deposits grew by 125 million euros over the month and household deposits by 30 million euros. Deposits of the non-financial sector stood at almost 9.5 billion euros at the end of July.

Financial sector statistics and their publication schedule can be found on the website of Eesti Pank at http://statistika.eestipank.ee/?lng=en#treeMenu/FINANTSSEKTOR.