Consumer credit surpasses 3 billion euros in the first six months of 2017
New credit granted to consumers increased more than 11% in the first semester of this year. Car loans rocketed in that period.
In the first six months of 2017, banks granted more than three billion euros to consumers. The new consumer credit increased in over 11% in the first semester in comparison to the amount granted in 2016, discloses the Bank of Portugal this Wednesday.
All in all, between January and July, banks lent 3.17 billion euros in consumer credit, 11.45% more than what they lent in the first semester of last year. Credit granting maintains, therefore, its growth tendency, seen since 2014.
Car credit was the main contributor to this increase, since the granting of personal credit (to health, education and other personal credit segments) decreased in the first semester. Car loans soared more than 21%, totaling around 1.3 billion euros by the end of June. As for new personal credit, it took a 78% nosedive in comparison to the first semester of 2016, to 268 million euros.
As for credit granted for cards, credit lines, current accounts and overdraft facilities, the amount lent by banks decrease 2.8%, totaling 515 million euros in the end of the first semester.
The number of contracts signed increased 4.5% in the first semester of 2017, surpassing 728 thousand. Once again, it was the car segment that contributed to this increase: car credit contracts increased 14% to a total of 93,446 signed contracts in the first semester. As for personal credit — even with the decrease in the amount of credit granted –, the number of signed contracts increased 6% to 208 thousand.
