In the quarterly period up to April 2024, the statistical indicators of interest rates[1] of credit institutions on their main sources of funds in euros mainly registered a decline, continuing the downward trend that began in December 2023. Namely, the highest level of interest rates on household time deposits in the last few years was reached in November last year.
As regards credit institutions’ main sources of funds from the household sector, the average of interest rates on savings deposits stood at 0.18% in April 2024, which is 0.01 percentage point higher than in April of the previous year. The averages of interest rates on short-term and long-term time deposits in April 2024 were higher compared to their values in April 2023, with growth in long-term time deposits being more pronounced. In April 2024, the average interest rate was 1.83% for short-term and 1.37% for long-term time deposits. Compared to April 2023, this is an increase of 0.21 and 0.87 percentage points for short-term and long-term deposits respectively.
Figure 1 Averages of interest rates on household savings and time deposits
The averages of interest rates on time deposits of non-financial corporations reached 3.48% for short-term deposits and 0.65% for long-term deposits in April 2024. Continuing the current trend, average interest rates on short-term deposits rose by 1.30 percentage points from April 2023, while the rates on long-term deposits saw a decline of 0.45 percentage points, after reaching their peak in the last several years in November 2023.
Figure 2 Averages of interest rates on time deposits of non-financial corporations
Statistical indicators of credit institutions' interest rates on the most important types of euro loans granted to households and non-financial corporations mostly trended up from mid-2022, with the exception of credit card loans, which continued a years-long decline in average interest rates.
As for the main categories of household loans, the highest average of interest rates in April 2024, of 5.93%, was recorded for general-purpose and other loans. The lowest average of interest rates in April 2024, of 3.76%, was seen in housing loans. These averages were reached after an increase in average interest rates of 0.46 percentage points for general-purpose and other loans and an increase of 0.77 percentage points for housing loans in the last year. The average of interest rates on loans in the form of transaction account overdrafts stood at 5.77% in April 2024, while for credit card loans, the average interest rate in the same month was 4.54%.
Figure 3 Averages of interest rates on newly granted household loans
As regards the main categories of loans granted to non-financial corporations in April 2024, the average of interest rates on short-term and long-term loans was 4.81% and 5.23% respectively. Short-term loans registered a growth of 1.24 percentage points on an annual basis and a slight decrease of 0.18 percentage points on a quarterly basis. Long-term loans recorded mild growth both on an annual and quarterly basis (of 0.07 and 0.05 percentage points respectively).
Figure 4 Averages of interest rates on newly granted loans to non-financial corporations
Statistical data time series:[2]
Interest rates of credit institutions in the RC
MFI interest rate statistics for euro area countries
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Statistical indicators of interest rates are calculated as weighted monthly averages of agreed (nominal) interest rates on new deposit and loan contracts between credit institutions and their clients from the domestic household sector (citizens and non-profit organisations) and the non-financial corporate sector (corporations outside the financial sector and the government sector) in a given month. New contracts include all contracts that specify for the first time the interest rate, and all renegotiations of the terms and conditions of the existing contracts. The weights used in the calculation are contracted amounts of newly received deposits and newly granted loans, with the exception of transaction accounts and demand deposits as well as transaction account overdrafts and credit card loans, which are assumed to be contractually renewed each month, but in indefinite amounts; for this reason, the weights used are their corresponding book balances at the end of a month. Indicators that are being calculated differ according to the instrument, maturity and institutional sector to which deposits and loans relate. As of January 2023, data refer only to the euro. For data before 2023, a kuna loan/deposit indexed to euro is also considered to be a euro loan/deposit (except for savings deposits, transaction account overdrafts and credit card loans where all currencies are included). ↑
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The statistical indicators of interest rates of credit institutions in the RC, published by the CNB, may be different from the statistical indicators of interest rates of credit institutions in the RC published by the ECB. The differences in the values of comparable indicators stem predominantly from the differences in the concept of residency used when calculating these indicators from the initially collected data. ↑