They lent €2.259 billion to companies in the month, 16.7% more than in February of 2018.

Among other loans to private individuals, banks provided €365 million in consumer loans, up 8.0% from January and up 2.0% from February 2018; for other purposes they lent €163 million, up 22.6% on the month and up 9.4% on the year.

In February this year, the average interest rate for home loans granted to individuals was 1.37%, down three basis points from January’s average rate.

For consumer credit and other purposes, average rates were 7.23% and 4.06% respectively.

Finally, the average rate for new loans to companies was 2.42%, against 2.41% in January.

For loans of more than €1 million, the rate was 1.92%; for below €1 million it was 2.71%.