On Tuesday, February 27, the Central Bank of Cyprus released the latest data on loans and deposits for January 2024.
According to the country's main financial institution, the island nation's banking system recorded a decline in new deposits and loans in the first month of 2024.
Deposits
Total cash in deposit accounts in January 2024 at Cypriot banks decreased by €366 million, compared with a net increase of €346 million in December 2023. The annualized growth rate was 0.8% compared to 0.4% a month earlier. The deposit balance reached €51.9 billion in January 2024.
The Central Bank of Cyprus emphasized that the decline in total deposits was mainly due to a net decrease of €273.1 million in Cypriot deposits. Meanwhile, deposits of households and non-financial companies fell by €28.9 million and €206.5 million, respectively. Deposits of the other domestic sectors fell by €37.7 million in January.
Loans
Concerning total loans, a decline of €122.9 million was recorded, compared with a net increase of €284.2 million in December 2023.
The annualized rate of change in January 2024 was 0.4% compared with 0.7% the month before. Total loan balances in January 2024 reached the €24.7 billion mark.
It is worth noting that from January 2021 to January 2024, the maximum outflow of funds from Cypriot banks occurred in March 2022 (-1.071 billion euros), while the largest inflow - in December 2022 (+586.3 million euros).
Loans to Cypriot residents in January 2024 decreased by €44.8 million. Looking in more detail, loans to households increased by €3.4m, while loans to non-financial companies fell by €19.1m. Loans to the rest of the economy showed an overall decrease of 29.1 million euros.