OREANDA-NEWS. Loans and leases were issued to Estonian companies and households moderately in February, which is common at the start of the year. The financing portfolio grew by relatively little over the month, and stood at 15.3 billion euros at the end of February.

The annual growth in the corporate loan and lease portfolio was 3.3% in February. The 704 million euros of new loans and leases to companies was around one tenth more than was issued in February last year. Financing in recent months has mainly been for companies in real estate, manufacturing and trade. Some 70% of the total value of long-term loans issued in February went to companies in these sectors.

The volume of new housing loans issued during the month was about the same as a year earlier. The annual growth in the portfolio was 2.9% in the first two months of the year. The volume of other household loans has remained the same for a long time now at 1.4 billion euros.

Average interest rates on loans have been affected in the second half of last year and the start of this by the decline in the 6-month EURIBOR, which is the base interest rate for most loans. The average interest rate for housing loans issued in February fell to 2.2%, while the average interest rate for corporate loans has remained at 2.5% in recent months.

The quality of the loan portfolio continued to improve in February. Loans overdue by more than 60 days were lower in volume than in January, accounting for 1.6% of the loan portfolio at the end of the month. The quality of loans to trading companies has declined slightly in recent months, though this has been offset by an improvement in the quality of other loans.

The annual growth of household and corporate deposits was 5.5% in February, similar to what it had been in the previous month. The growth in deposits was mainly driven by an increase in household deposits. There was little change in the volume of corporate deposits in February and annual growth in them remained at 2% for the second consecutive month. Non-resident deposits increased modestly in February and they remained at 21% of the total of corporate and household deposits.