Irish private sector credit growth eased for the third month running in February as it fell to the lowest rate since August 2004, the central bank said this morning.
The bank, which has warned of risks to Ireland's economy from soaring lending, said the adjusted annual growth rate was 24.8 per cent, compared to 25.3 per cent in January and 29.4 per cent in February 2006.
The rate has decelerated steadily from a six-year high of 30.3 per cent in June as rising European Central Bank interest rates take the steam out of a booming property market that Ireland's central bank has warned could be overvalued.
Private sector credit rose by €4.9 billion or 1.5 per cent on the month, bringing outstanding lending to Irish residents by credit institutions in Ireland to €326.1 billion.
The adjusted annual growth rate of residential mortgages fell to 24.6 per cent from 25 per cent in January.
"The slowdown in the residential mortgage growth rate is reflected in the three-month moving average, which reached its lowest level since November 2003," the bank said.
The month-on-month increase in outstanding mortgage lending was €1.3 billion and slightly less than in January.
"Mortgage lending is typically weak in the opening months of the year, so it is still too early to determine the extent to which this slowdown can be attributed to higher interest rates and/or declining activity in the housing market," the bank said.
The adjusted annual growth rate of non-mortgage credit was 30.8 per cent and little changed from the 30.9 per cent recorded in January.
Annual growth in outstanding credit card debt, which slowed to 17.9 per cent in January from December's 18.8 per cent, picked up again last month, rising to 18.6 per cent.
"While there was a month-on-month decline in new spending in February, there was a larger decrease in payments received," the Central Bank said.
Irish credit institutions accounted for €209.9 billion of the euro area's broad money supply in February, a monthly rise of 2.4 per cent or €4.9 billion. The annual growth rate rose to 32.8 per cent from a revised 30.9 per cent in January.