Cypriots prefer foreign currency loans

…deposits surge higher

Cypriots continued to prefer loans in foreign currency at the expense of local currency which carried a higher rate, according to the July Monetary Survey of the Central Bank of Cyprus. Total loans until end of July 2006 jumped by CYP 31 mln to CYP 10.78 bln, with the bulk of increase recorded in foreign currency loans made by residents, which surged by CYP 32.9 mln to CYP 1.65 bln, while loans made by residents in local currency fell CYP 23 mln to CYP 8.5 bln. The rest were loans taken by non-residents, which reached 680.54 mln.

Since the beginning of this year, total loans in local and foreign currency given by all banks are up by CYP 817.59 mln to CYP 10.8 bln, of which CYP 501 mln refer to increases in loans priced in foreign currency and CYP 316 mln made in local currency.

Deposits up sharply

Total deposits at all banks held by residents and non residents jumped by CYP 541 mln in July to reach a record CYP 17.1 bln, of which CYP 10.04 bln were held by residents and CYP 7.1 bln were held by non-residents according to the Central Bank data compiled by the Financial Mirror.

Local currency deposits held by residents jumped by CYP 87.4 mln in July to CYP 8.89 bln, while deposits held by residents in foreign currency was up by CYP 25.9 mln to CYP 1.1 bln.

Non-resident deposits in foreign currency jumped by a whopping CYP 424 mln to CYP 6.5 bln while non-resident deposits held in local currency were steady at CYP 603 mln.

Since the start of the year, total deposits held by residents and non-residents at all banks are up CYP 1.1 bln, of which CYP 667.5 mln refer to resident deposits and CYP 470 mln to non-resident deposits.

As far as deposits are concerned, the Monetary Survey stipulates that the market share of local banking institutions since the beginning of the year captured a larger market share from both IBUs and Coops as the recorded increase since the beginning of the year stood at 7.2% for local banking institutions against an increase of 7.0% for Coops and a reduction of 0.5% in IBUs respectively.