Spending across credit and debit cards, ATM withdrawals and point of service transactions declined last month while loan repayments exceeded lending by €221m in the 12 months to the end of June, according to Central Bank statistics.
Card spending decreased 4% to €8.2bn compared to May, and ATM (€1.2bn) and points of service (€7bn) transactions also saw 4% declines month-on-month in the latest evidence that consumers are tightening their belts in response to inflation of 9.6%.
Card expenditure increased 16% of €1.14bn year-on-year due to the absence of Covid restrictions, and card expenditure outside Ireland increased 16% or €66m month-on-month and €170% from last June to €478m.
As consumers embarked on their summer holidays, the transport sector saw a 165% increase in spending compared to the same month last year, but the dining (+57%) and accommodation (+46%) also experienced significant increases in spend.
The Central Bank also founded net lending to households fell €125m in June, while repayments have exceeded lending by €221m in the past 12 months.
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Consumer lending fell €7m from May, but annualised growth in consumer lending of 2.3% equated to an increase of €266m year-on-year.
Conversely, deposits from households increased €1.3m following a rare decline of €212m in May, and household deposits have now risen €8.3bn or 6% over the past year, although the rate of growth is around half that level recorded in February 2021 (13.8%) at the height of Covid.
Net lending to non-financial corporations amounted to €389m in June, and loan drawdowns by companies have exceeded repayments by €1.7bn over the past 12 months for an annual growth rate of 5.4% -- unseen since May 2019.
Deposits from non-financial corporations fell €11m month-on-month in June, but deposits are €5.2bn higher than this time last year (+7.4%), although the rate has declined by nearly two-thirds from a high of 20.9% in November 2020.
Total bank lending to Irish resident sectors rose 5% on an annual basis to the end of June, driven by a surge in lending to monetary financial institutions, and banks' holdings of deposits from the private sector recorded a net inflow of €3.2bn in June for steady annual growth of 7.6%.
Irish-resident households remain the largest contributing sector to deposits on banks’ aggregate balance sheet, and Irish-resident banks' outstanding borrowing from the Central Bank increased slightly last month to €21.4bn.
(Pic: Getty Images)
