Cyprus IBU loans reach $6.5 bln

International Banking Units (IBUs) based in Cyprus saw a $119 mln decline in advances to customers to $6.58 bln until June 2006, according to the Monetary Survey of the Cyprus Central Bank, but investments booked through the IBUs mainly into Russia and other east European countries continued to rise.

Total investments were up $195 mln in June to $6.8 bln with the increase since the start of the year at $1.7 bln. Customer deposits with all IBUs also fell sharply in June by $259.2 mln to $4.9 bln, forcing the year-to-date increase to narrow to only $28 mln.