The granting of consumer credit increased in September at the highest (annual) rate in the last six years, according to data from the Bank of Portugal published this Friday. Credit growth for “consumer and other purposes” was 5.3% in September, the steepest since September 2018, with the “consumer credit” subgroup increasing at an even faster rate: 7.7%.
SOURCE: Bank of Portugal
“The amount of loans for consumption and other purposes increased by 178 million euros compared to August, up to 30.1 billion euros,” reported the Bank of Portugal, adding that “in relation to September 2023, it grew by 5 .9%, the highest annual rate of change recorded since November 2018.”
The consumer purpose was the one that showed the greatest dynamism, with an annual variation rate of 7.7%, while loans for other purposes only grew by 2.7%,” states the Bank of Portugal.
The supervisor’s data now has a breakdown by type of personal credit, a debt segment that in September amounted to 12.5 billion euros.
“Car credit reached 8.2 billion euros, 84 million euros more than in August, and an annual variation rate of 9.2%,” reported the Bank of Portugal, adding that “credit cards, despite Despite representing a much lower value, of the order of 3.2 billion euros, they recorded the highest annual variation rate (10.6%) of this type of loans.”
In housing credit, in September 2024, the total amount of loans to individuals grew 2.6% compared to the same month of the previous year.
The stock of housing loans increased by 472 million euros compared to August, totaling 100.8 billion euros at the end of September, the highest value since February 2015. Compared to the same month last year, the growth was 1.7 %, maintaining the acceleration trajectory that has been recorded since January 2024,” reports the Bank of Portugal.
Credit to businesses grew more slowly. “The stock of loans granted by banks to companies amounted to 72.3 billion euros at the end of September 2024, 83 million more than at the end of August. In year-on-year terms, growth was 0.4%, the highest annual variation rate since December 2022,” says the supervisor.
Source: Observadora
